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| I was digging through the dumpsters behind Junior's on Flatbush the other day. (There's less grub thrown-out than you would think being Junior's is the Doggie-Bag Capital of the universe) While dipping a sliver of not-quite-spoiled Lemon Cheesecake into French-Dip gravy, I peeked into the window of Brooklyn's famous slopateria, and noticed this person. Either this was a "Ghost of Jimi Hendrix" sighting -OR- Frankie's hairstyle is finally catching on. I can't decide.... What do you think? |
At one point or another, one of yous mugs must have been questioned or something, for taking pics of people out in the open.
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you Lou, not as much as you might think. We do our fair share of asking if it's OK and accepting the no. Once I snapped a picture of our tollbooth attendant on the Queens side of the Midtown tunnel and she had a legitimate freakout. She wouldn't let us drive off until a cop came. The cop made us drive to the shoulder and was cool about it. Asked me to erase it.
DeleteA lot of time people think I'm a tourist, so I just go with that. If they really ask I tell them the truth, but if I sort of hear them say something, I let it roll.
The other day I took a picture of some dude in a super-duper teched out cycling suit -- he had wheels strung to his back -- he looked like something out of Akira. He caught me, and his body language said, "Again?" But he didn't say anything.
A few weeks back there was a fairly run-down looking mom and dad couple pulling (what I think was) their 3 year old around in an old Radio Flyer Wagon. The kid was wrapped up in blankets, but his/her legs were sticking over the sides of the wagon in a pair of crispy Jordan Ones. Couldn't see the face. I snapped a blurry photo and they got tight. "What are you takin' pictures of?" "I've been taking pictures of the neighborhood all day," I said. The husband looked at the wife and shrugged. She said, "Well, we'd appreciate if you didn't take pictures of us IN the neighborhood." "I just liked seeing the Jordans peeking out," I said. "They're cool, right?" said the guy. I still don't know for sure that they were connected to a real kid.
Got some video of a nice hubcap wall outside of an Auto Body on Liberty Ave in Richmond Hill and one of the mechanics advised that I should put my camera away in the neighborhood because there was a lot people around there that might not want their picture taken because the cops were looking for them. He was a slippery looking mechanic.
One time I got a picture of a 14/15-year old kid at the Dutchess County Fair -- he'd just bought a trucker hat with BO$$ airbrushed on the brim in cracked out graffiti letters and he'd won a giant rastafarian banana plush doll. I'd asked him if it was OK to get his picture, and it had seemed like I was asking him, along with a bunch of adults he was with. Got the flick, it was cool. 10 minutes later, his Grandmother seeks me out and starts yelling that he wasn't "old enough to make that decision" - of whether he should allow me to take the photo or not. Not only did I explain that I thought I was asking for his permission and the 8 other people in his group (I swear someone's Dad was there), I tried to assure her that the picture was 100% cool - for my blog (which I tried to explain to her) and that I took it because I liked his airbrushed hat and the ridiculous banana doll. But she kept making an issue and basically accusing us of doing something "bad" with the picture. Even after I said I'd erase it. It was as if she'd found a platform and didn't want to let it go. She wasn't being crazy or even causing a scene necessarily she was just being really uncool about it all and NOT STOPPING. The fact was that we ARE NOT doing anything unsavory - yet her suspicion that maybe we were made it OK for her to again and again accuse us of something. I was like, "What do you think I'm possibly gonna do with this photo?" She wouldn't go there. I'd taken about 100 pictures just like it that day. It was a complete bummer and the opposite of what the fair was about or why we were there. Then again, you gotta protect your kids.
You gotta protect the kids to a certain degree, but not be all crazy about it.
DeleteHow on earth do you explain the blog to a crazy lady though?
-"It's totally cool, it's for the internet!"
-"It's ok, I have a blog, and there's a snow man AND A GHOST!"
-"But the ghost is British and very vocal, so its ok..."
-"The landlord of the building is a pigeon though..."
If anything that would probably make it worse!
PS. I still get hyped up when I watch the Bike scene in AKIRA. Makes me wanna go out and ride and/or bash in skulls.
You know how you protect your kids?
DeleteWell, let me tell you:
THE BUCKET PROTECTOR!!!
Pop a bucket on your dumb kid's head.
They won't get hurt, they can't see and you can't hear them.
Only $29.95!!!
I like the part about not hearing the kids.
Delete