Street Stories: Coco

 Photography, street stories  13 Responses »
Oct 232009
 


Coco

This image has been hanging around in my camera for a couple of weeks now. I didn’t finish the roll until today. I’ve been wanting to tell her story, but wanted to wait until I had developed the picture. So, here it is:

This is Coco. She works for Bluegreen resorts, a timeshare seller, but not a very pushy one. She works in downtown Charleston at a place that was, I guess, formerly a camera store. It was called Kamera Korner. I was out shooting one day and noticed that my Leica’s battery had died. No light meter! Oh well, I’d have to wing it! I have since learned to place the shutter speed dial on “B” before placing the camera in the bag. If the shutter button is depressed, the light meter will not come on. Or, I could not cock the shutter, but I like to be ready!

I rounded a corner and happened to spy a store called Kamera Korner and figured that they would have batteries, but lo and behold, there was nothing there but the name, Coco, and lots of tourist information. Outside of the former store stood Coco. To say that Coco has personality would be, well, quite an understatement. Let us just say that she is vivacious and has much effervescence. She’s downright bubbly!

When I walked over she greeted me with a smile and we struck up a conversation. She was interested in my ‘old’ camera. :-) While we talked, she continued to offer potential customers discount tickets, etc, as they were walking down the sidewalk. As I have noticed with most street vendors, or businesses, most people will give them a wide berth.

Coco told me that most people ignore her, some are very rude, others cross the street. She said that it didn’t bother her because she has a pretty thick skin and if someone was rude to her, she knew how to be rude back to them ‘in a nice way’.

While we were talking, a young man from Hyman’s Seafood Restaurant, a couple of doors down, came by. Coco stopped him and suggested that I try one of the free hushpuppies that he was giving out. I did and it was fantastic. Probably one of the best that I’ve ever had, honestly. She, as you can see, helped herself to two. She says that she probably eats at least a dozen every day that they give them out. She also made the guy give me a discount coupon to the restaurant, which I have in my wallet.

We had a great conversation and then just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared, back into the Kamera Korner for a break or something. I went on about my business and continued to shoot without batteries.

Most of my shots were pretty spot on. I guess that I had a good idea about the light. :-)

 Posted by Paul at 12:00 am  Tagged with: , ,

Dave : It’s about respect!

 Photography, street stories  10 Responses »
Sep 042009
 


The sale that got away

I thought the title of this post fitting. During my conversation with Dave, I didn’t count but I bet that he used the word respect at least a dozen times. I believe anything that you want so desperately from someone else is something that you are lacking for yourself, but that’s my opinion. Dave’s word was Respect.

As I was heading back towards my car after talking to Justin, Dave stopped me and asked if I’d like to buy one of his flowers that was made from palm fronds. He was selling them for $3 each. I told him, no thank you. Of course, being the salesman that he was, he wouldn’t take no for answer. I told him that my wife was not in town and I couldn’t do anything with it. He asked when I was returning home and I told him on the weekend. He indicated that this all-natural creation would keep for a very long time, well past the weekend. Again, I said no. Time for the next approach, bonding.

“Hey brotha, I’m just out here trying to make it. It’s nice if brothas, like yourself, who have made it, could help out.”.

Ok, just one more time for effect: No. Thank you! Hmmm, what other approach?

Well, how about a donation since you don’t want the flower. :-)


Nope. No donation. By now I was getting a little impatient, but stuck around anyway. Dave talked about all manner of things such as his just having gotten out of prison two weeks ago and the fact that he is never going back! He talked about how he taught the kids how to make the flowers. He spoke of respect and how he didn’t like when people disrespected him all the time by not even making eye contact or talking to him. He didn’t like people judging him.

I tried to offer alternate explanations like people might not want to spend $3 on a palm frond, or that they might be tired, or scared, or whatever. He wasn’t hearing that. It had to be a lack of respect. I didn’t argue the point.

During the time that I stood there, he sold several flowers. One group offered him $3 for 3 roses. He was insulted, telling them that this was hand crafted work that should be respected. They made him a final offer of $5, which he took. Then he came back to me and complained. Imagine, he said, someone going into a high priced restaurant, looking at the menu and saying I’m not paying $20 for that meal, I’ll give you $8 for it! Man! That’s a lack of respect! (See any pattern?)

I was past ready to go and thought that I’d offer him a small donation of $2, just because I was happy to see that he was out trying to earn some money, even though I had some small misgivings as there was a not so faint smell of alcohol on his breath, but judge not! He took it with some reluctance. Not the reluctance of pride, but the reluctance of it’s not enough. He said: OK. I’ll take your $2 if that’s all you have to offer. I looked at him and said: Well, Dave. I’ll tell you what. I’ll just put this back into my pocket since you don’t seem to need or want it and I’ll be on my way. He quickly recanted his statement, apologized, and accepted the donation.

A few minutes later I was about to walk off and then turned back:

Paul: Dave. Would you mind if I take your picture?
Dave: How much more money are you going to donate?
Paul: None. I don’t pay for pictures.
Dave: OK. Then you can’t take it.
Paul: Cool. It was nice to meet you, Dave.
Dave: Hold up man. Are you going to sell this picture to make money?
Paul: No. I just like to take photos of interesting people, but I understand.
Dave: Alright, you can take my picture.
Paul : OK. (I took a few pictures over the next few minutes as he did his business)
Dave: I can tell that you really want to hang out with me.
Paul: Really? How’s that?
Dave: I can just tell.
Paul: OK. (Smiles)

Finally, a couple came by, the ones pictured, and he convinced the man to buy his lady a rose. After the transaction was complete, Dave asked them if they’d like to be in a picture with him. They said sure. Dave tried to get the wife between him and husband, but the husband was having none of that. You see that she is safely on the other side! :-)


Dave: See, I got you a good picture. You should donate some more money.
Paul: Nope. No more donations. I have to go.
Dave: See! All of this conversation that I shared with you and you can’t even give me more than $2.
Paul: Oh! I didn’t know that the meter was running! I didn’t realize that you were charging me for conversation!!
Dave: Naw man, it ain’t like that! I take it back. I’m sorry.
Paul: No apologies needed. It was really nice to meet you, Dave. I wish you well!
Dave: I’m going to be alright. Look for me next time you are down here.
Paul: Will do.

I finally was able to leave and head to my car. As I walked away, I could hear Dave in the background with his, now familiar to me sales line:

“Flower for the lady? Handcrafted! Only $3″

In street photography, you don’t get these types of opportunities unless you stop and talk. I am grateful to Craig Tanner and his Next Step Workshop that helped me get over some of my fears of taking pictures of people. Without that, I would have never gotten to hear these great stories and meet these interesting people! And to be sure, Dave was an interesting person!

 Posted by Paul at 12:00 am

Justin : Living on your own is expensive!

 Photography, street stories  11 Responses »
Sep 032009
 


This is a photo of Justin. He looks pretty laid back, no? I was walking down the sidewalk and saw him relaxing on his bicycle taxi. I told him: “Looks like you have everything under control”. He laughed and said that business has been really slow, but that he could use some relaxation time. He said that he works about 70 hours a week. He has a full time job at a restaurant and then drives this ‘taxi’ about 30 hours a week and he was thankful that this summer has not been so hot. You could have fooled me!

I asked if I could take his picture and he said: “Sure. What do you want me to do?”. I told him to go back to what he was doing, so he reclined back in his seat, and resumed what he was doing … not much. I only took one picture, the one you see here, then struck up a conversation. He asked if I was a professional. I told him that I was a hobbyist. He said that he thought that everyone should have a hobby to get them away from the stresses of life, but he admitted to not having one.

We talked about a myriad of things, life, jobs, parents, etc. He said that he has been on his own, mostly, for the past 3 months and is enjoying his freedom, but he was not quite prepared for how expensive it is to live. He admitted that he isn’t fully on his own as his parents are still paying for his car insurance, cell phone, car payment, and a couple of other things. He’s paying rent, food, utilities, and gas for his car. He said that being on his own made him really appreciate what his parents are doing for him because he’s not sure how he would survive without their help and that he liked the freedom, but could appreciate the responsibilities!

We talked more about life. He just graduated from college but is not sure of what he wants to do and asked me for advice. Of course, I couldn’t give him answer except to say that there are as many ways to live life as there are people on the planet. He said that some people were telling him that he needs to get a good paying job, but that he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. “What if I get a job that pays well, but I don’t like it.?”. I told him to find something that he loves to do, whether or not the mainstream thinks it’s a ‘good’ job, and do it. Further, I told him that he may have to adjust his lifestyle to accommodate his passion, but that I didn’t think it was a good idea to take a job just for the money. He really liked that idea and said that no one had ever told him that. He always thought that he had to go to college, get a good job, marry, have a family, etc. He said that he was really glad that he met me and feels somewhat relieved, now. His mother had suggested that he go to a college job fair and he’d been resisting the idea, but after talking to me, he thought that he’d go and see if it sparked any ideas of what he might want to try. “It can’t hurt and I don’t have to do anything!”. Smart fellow!

He asked if I liked my job. I told him that I did and I was one of the fortunate few who have had a job for 25 years that they really liked, but I did admit that I’m getting very weary of the software ‘game’. We chatted about so many things over the hour, but had to cut our conversation ‘short’ as it was starting to rain, so we parted ways. He told me that he’s usually right there our in front of the Market Pavillion Hotel. The next time that I go down there, I’ll be looking for him.

 Posted by Paul at 12:00 am
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