Today was interesting, the first time anyone has stopped me and questioned having a camera in my own neighborhood. I live in a somewhat upscale apartment community, so crime and riff raff are not really an issue. I have also gone on several walks with my DSLR around the trails and pond across the street and I have never encountered any negativity. Today was the first time that anything even remotely negative occurred and I don’t even know if it was negative, just odd.
I am working from home as it’s one of the two days a week that I am afforded the luxury. So, on my lunch hour I made lunch and cleaned up the kitchen. I decided that I didn’t want to sit and smell the trash so I would walk it down to the trash can. I also happen to be on call tonight so I knew that there were slim chances that I would be out and about with the camera to capture any photos.
For the past week or so I have been watching this tree slowly start to turn yellow and loose it’s leaves. Just under the tree is a red fire hydrant and, in the background, a wooden fence and tree line. The problem, there was usually always a line of cars parked in the spots in front of the fence and I never really felt that it would make a good photo unless the spots were empty. Today they were empty.
I have this little Fuji Instax mini camera that I find makes interesting little vintage looking photos and I just picked up a couple of film cartridges. So, I figured it would be a good day to be a little lazy and just take the fuji out for a walk. I felt that the instant film aesthetic would work nice with the tree and hydrant and if the spots were still empty when I got close enough, I would just snap a photo. I also took a few shots of some planters in front of some of the doors, this really badass motorcycle that also had no cars next to it for the first time since I can remember, and a fire hydrant closer to my apartment door.
I was probably outside five minutes and was returning from the trash can when one of the office workers or managers, from the apartment office rolls up in this little golf cart and asks if she can help me. Confused I look at here and I’m like, “uh, no”. She then proceeds to tell me that she has had numerous complaints that I am taking photos. I look at her confused and I’m like “Yeah, I’m taking photos so what?” and she is like “why?” and I’m like “Because I bought a camera and wanted to test it out” at which point I think she realized that I was not a criminal and the conversation was not really going to go any further and just said “okay well, have a nice day” and drove off.
At any rate, enjoy the spoils of my crime spree.
