Bryan Vana • patrickjoust: The Big Stick on Flickr. Via...

patrickjoust:

The Big Stick on Flickr.
Via Flickr: Yashica Mat 124 Kodak Ektar 100
…
I was out with Tim Castlen and Bryan Vana taking pictures a couple weeks ago. We split up and wandered around several blocks in Dundalk. I took a picture of this house and moved on. About 15 minutes later, Tim, by himself, was about to take a shot of the same scene, when he was confronted by some guy with a stick. He wasn’t the owner of the house, but wanted to know why Tim was taking pictures of houses. The guy didn’t seem to understand his (our) fascination with big back-lit American flags :) I think Bryan said he got a picture of this place too, when he happened by.
Anyway, there was a woman who walked out of the house and sort of came to Tim’s rescue. She explained to her stick wielding neighbor that it wasn’t Tim who took the picture, but some other guy with a backpack (me). The guy with the stick said something like “how many guys can there be out here with cameras taking pictures?” Luckily, it didn’t go beyond that. The guy thought Tim should knock on every person’s door at 10PM to ask if it was ok to take pictures in the neighborhood, which would be an interesting approach, but one we decided not to adopt.
Tim was pretty cool about the whole situation, considering there was at least some threat of violence. I don’t think I would have been so cool under the same circumstances. We decided to stick closer together for the rest of the evening. So unfortunately Tim didn’t get his shot, but we stayed out for quite a while longer and hopefully all got some interesting pictures. Unfortunately we were also confronted two more times by guys who didn’t understand why we were doing what we were doing.
This was the most active night, in terms of confrontation, I think I’ve ever had while out shooting. Luckily there are actually not that many conflicts, considering how much shooting we all do and how much paranoia there is. I thought once we got Osama bin Laden, everything would be ok again. I guess not.

Three bearded men with cameras in the night… be afraid.

The Big Stick on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Yashica Mat 124

Kodak Ektar 100

…

I was out with Tim Castlen and Bryan Vana taking pictures a couple weeks ago. We split up and wandered around several blocks in Dundalk. I took a picture of this house and moved on. About 15 minutes later, Tim, by himself, was about to take a shot of the same scene, when he was confronted by some guy with a stick. He wasn’t the owner of the house, but wanted to know why Tim was taking pictures of houses. The guy didn’t seem to understand his (our) fascination with big back-lit American flags :) I think Bryan said he got a picture of this place too, when he happened by.

Anyway, there was a woman who walked out of the house and sort of came to Tim’s rescue. She explained to her stick wielding neighbor that it wasn’t Tim who took the picture, but some other guy with a backpack (me). The guy with the stick said something like “how many guys can there be out here with cameras taking pictures?” Luckily, it didn’t go beyond that. The guy thought Tim should knock on every person’s door at 10PM to ask if it was ok to take pictures in the neighborhood, which would be an interesting approach, but one we decided not to adopt.

Tim was pretty cool about the whole situation, considering there was at least some threat of violence. I don’t think I would have been so cool under the same circumstances. We decided to stick closer together for the rest of the evening. So unfortunately Tim didn’t get his shot, but we stayed out for quite a while longer and hopefully all got some interesting pictures. Unfortunately we were also confronted two more times by guys who didn’t understand why we were doing what we were doing.

This was the most active night, in terms of confrontation, I think I’ve ever had while out shooting. Luckily there are actually not that many conflicts, considering how much shooting we all do and how much paranoia there is. I thought once we got Osama bin Laden, everything would be ok again. I guess not.