Always at the Ready
It’s not everyday I get the chance to explore smaller corners of the Southeast, especially with pal Kent Meister.
Kent reached out to me a few weeks ago asking if I would be down to explore some small town’s in Alabama / Georgia while he was in town for a show in Atlanta… Um… yes please! Sometimes is a fun time exploring on your own, meditative and relaxing, but sometimes I want to experience these random occurrences with a pal. Pretty normal I believe and we did just that. Spent upwards of 12 hours traveling and shooting. More on that in future blog posts.
Onto this shot.
Kent and I were slow walking through Piedmont, AL. Nothing at the time was standing out, but we kept turning a few corners in the hope the photo of day would happen.
Wait… let me back up… Kent and I are both Leica fans and although Kent has both a baller M6 and M10 while I only have and M7 (I say “only” with pride ;) we shot primarily all film on this trip. It was great talking to Kent about my passion for film and how it’s made me into the photographer I am; as well as hearing his stories and life up in Brooklyn, NY.
Ok… onto the story. So we’re in Piedmont and this older man is following after what appears to be his grandson. They were pretty close but I really wanted the boy to hurry up ahead so I could capture this older gentlemen dressed in a style I couldn’t get enough of. I knew it when I saw him, this had to be captured.
Kent and I stand out pretty easily in the smaller town… two guys with cameras and suspiciously eyeballing the corners of sleeper town populace. This guy gave us no notice at all even though we were about 15 feet from him. His “grandson” takes off, Kent is talking to me about something that I can barely hold onto. I’m trying to anticipate if I can speed up just enough without making it obvious and get a frame. I speed up, so does Kent “hold up a sec” I whisper, frame the shot… “click” and walk away smiling. I felt it. This was going to be the shot of the day. And it is a favorite for sure, but when two photographers get together with the purpose of making every shot the shot of the day… each roll tends to present some great work.
Thanks for reading along. More to come on this days several adventures and I process them myself.