this is charlie.

This is Charlie. He's from St. Lucia and I met him in the parking lot of Hardee's shortly after I went in and ordered food after taking photos of Joe. I saw him sitting at a table and reading a newspaper and was really intrigued. I kept my eye on him and was waiting for the perfect moment to go over when he suddenly got up and walked out. I almost admitted defeat when my friend Debbie made some comment about how I'd lost my chance. Never one to give up, I bolted out of my chair (almost hitting a Hardee's employee while doing so) and ran out the door to grab a photo of him. It turns out he wasn't leaving at all, but going to the payphone on the corner to make a call. I stood and talked for him for a few minutes while taking his photo, then went back inside to eat. (Debbie got this shot of me chatting with him outside…I've never had a photo of me interacting with one of my street portrait subjects before, haha.)

Shortly after I finished eating, Charlie came over and asked me to come out to his car to hear his music. I happily obliged and even got a short clip of video of the experience…his music was fantastic!

I love how many great experiences I get simply from walking up to strangers and asking to photograph them. If there was ever a reason to get over your fear of approaching strangers, the entertaining stories alone should be it!

juxtaposition.

I did some freelance work today for Harding, which involved taking some portraits of a couple in Laurel, MD. I showed up at their house not knowing if there would be a good place nearby to take photos, but lucky for me, they live in a development that surrounds an old quarry that filled up with water after they went too far. We walked down to a dock for the photos and I snapped a few of just the lake while they talked a little about the area. The lake covers what used to be hillside, so there's some creepy sunken trees and undergrowth peering up from beneath the clear water. I liked the odd combination of this beautiful thing of nature surrounded by this man-made development.

licking flames.

I'm usually the type of person that shies away from posting any photo that might fall into the "cliche" category. However, this photo in particular, despite all of it's cliche fieriness, struck me at my first glance and had me going back a few times before I finally decided to suck it up and just post it. This photo is from the leg of my trip last weekend that took me down to surprise Joel and Ashley in Trinity, NC. My favorite part (aside from the lovely flames licking at the logs) is that Joel's face is ever so slightly lit up in the background behind the fire…so slightly in fact that you might miss it if you're not looking for it. I love subtle details like that.