Sometimes the New Year Doesn't Come at Midnight
I debated if I wanted to go out for New Year's Eve. The thought of bars, drinking, partying, finding a driver or place to stay- all of this seemed like more work than I wanted. I spent the majority of the day in my favorite black nightgown trying to write a blog. Scratching it- starting over. Starting yet again. All I really wanted to do was go outside. I would go to the door, open it and feel that for December 31st, it was quite mild and I knew I should be outside. Outside would help with inspiration. I just knew it. I could sit in a coffee shop somewhere and write about people I see. (I love to do that- watch them when they don't know-- just sit and observe) Although, I knew most shops would be closing for the holiday. I could go to Fells Point and take pictures. I love to do that. I looked at the clock. It was getting late. I only had a few hours of daylight left. Was it worth the hassle of getting dressed and showered and all the time it takes just to walk outside?
Yeah-- I needed to get out.
By the time I got in my truck it was close to 3:30pm. Nuts. This meant about an hour and a half of camera light left. I had to take the long way to the city too because of traffic in Eldersburg. 4:13pm and I finally parked my truck. As I walked around randomly shooting I tried to think of things differently. There are Christmas lights still up. I am not a 'Christmas' person but this could be pretty. I walk along Thames and take a picture of the Guinness barrel out front of Slainte. I notice a man playing a guitar and singing. That isn't that uncommon though. I usually see musicians standing in that spot. Not sure why they all pick that spot but I know I have many, many a picture of people playing their flutes, guitars and other instruments for a dollar here- maybe some spare change at the least. I got closer and took a few shots. I liked this guy's voice. I don't even remember what he was singing just that I remember being pleasantly surprised that I liked him as much as I did and I wished I had a dollar on me. I don't carry cash when I shoot so I just smiled at him and continued on. It did occur to me that this guy could have used the dollar too. He didn't seem to be too well off.
As I pass a bar, a guy outside is watching me watch everyone else. I'm sure I look strange. Sometimes I take pictures of things and people wonder what the hell I am looking at. Sometimes they even ask. "What the hell are you taking a picture of?" Another guy joins him out front of the bar and sees me with camera in hand. He asks me to take their picture. Ahhhh.... New Years. I put the camera up and as they pose, the more friendly of the two decides to pretend to grab the other one's package. Nice. I tell them it will be all over the Internet soon. They both laugh and the one with grabby hands asked me to come join them. I politely decline.
I walk back to the square in the center of Fells Point. This is the best place to get people shots. The benches invite people to come sit and pose for me even though they don't realize they have just become my models. I see a large woman in a motorized chair and a man sitting on one of the benches talking. He has a two seater blue bicycle next to him. It's a pretty baby blue color and has one red ball and a purple rose on it for no particular reason. I begin to sneak pictures of it when he spots me. "You like my bike?" he asks with a smile. I tell him I like it very much (I actually said that-- I talk like that..."I like it very much") He seems to take great pride in this. I can tell they don't have much of anything. His pride in his bike makes it that much more attractive to me. There is a blue plastic grocery bag tied to the middle and as I think to myself that I will have a hard time cropping it out later the woman speaks up, ""You want us to move that bag for ya?" I laugh and put my hand on her shoulder and say, "Now here is a woman with a really good eye! I was just thinking about that bag myself!" They move the bag- I take my pictures and leave them with well wishes for the next year.
I continue to walk the same steps again knowing that with each person who comes and goes the opportunities for interesting pictures will change. I find myself back to the guitar player. This time I am focused on something else but I am still too aware of what is going on around me and notice that a homeless man has approached him. They start to talk and I now pull the camera from my head to watch. I hear the homeless man giving compliments to this singer of songs and am quite amazed when I see the homeless man take change from his pocket and put it in the musician's jar. The musician stops playing. He thanks him but adds, "No, friend, YOU take one of my dollars. Take it." I see him reach into the jar and push money into the homeless man's hand. The man takes the musician's hand to his face and thanks him. I shoot. I am so moved by what I just witnessed that I blur the shot. As the homeless man walks by me and I turn to see them again- they are saying "Happy New Year" to each other and the homeless man turns back to the singer of songs and makes a thankful gesture with his hands once - then twice more. And I shoot. And I walk. Quickly. I can't get to the ATM fast enough. When I get back to the guitar player I stand and look him in the eyes standing very close to him. He's singing but only I am there so I interrupt and ask, "Did you just give that man one of your dollars?" He sheepishly smiles and gives me a timid, "Yeah." I put the $20 bill in his jar. He sees the bill and starts to protest, "No ma'am! Awww.. you can't do that." He's right- I can't afford it. I'm so far in debt right now its not funny. But I can not imagine any better use of that $20 bill than what I just did and there is not one- NOT ONE- fiber of my being that tells me I should be doing anything else. My whole soul was screaming to do this. I tell him, "No- that is meant for you." He answers me with, "Well, that's real nice!" I respond, "You started it....." I left him with a smile and the best feeling in my heart. All I kept thinking was 'WOW! I just saw a REAL pay it forward thingy!' It's like all the Internet stories that get forwarded and make you all teary eyed but this was real! And I saw it! And I got to help!!! I felt so honored. Honored that something made it possible (God, fate, chance) that I could be there and see such selflessness as what I had just seen.
The love of music from a homeless man who would give the little change he had to a man who was a bit better off than he was.
The love of a man for the people around him to give a dollar instead of change to someone who needed it more.
And my love for the two of them at that moment.
Darkness was coming. Fells Point was eerily empty and quiet before the big night was set to begin. I wandered around taking beautiful night pictures. Some of the best I have ever shot I think. I passed a group of three guys (who have started New Years early) who ask me to take their picture. I find it funny that only guys do this to me. I take their picture as one pretends to grab the other one's chest. They laugh and say, "Wait til that ends up on Facebook." I said, "Well, its better than what the last group of guys grabbed on each other." They laugh at that and ask me if I want to get in the picture with them. I politely decline.
As I leave Fells Point I can not get over the sense of renewal I feel. The sense of respect for people. The sense that I have the ability to make a difference in the world and that to not do so is the absolute worst way to spend a year. I go home, open a bottle of wine, think of my day and can't help but feel a sense of New Year's already being rung in. For me- it has already begun.
Happy New Year~
Yeah-- I needed to get out.
By the time I got in my truck it was close to 3:30pm. Nuts. This meant about an hour and a half of camera light left. I had to take the long way to the city too because of traffic in Eldersburg. 4:13pm and I finally parked my truck. As I walked around randomly shooting I tried to think of things differently. There are Christmas lights still up. I am not a 'Christmas' person but this could be pretty. I walk along Thames and take a picture of the Guinness barrel out front of Slainte. I notice a man playing a guitar and singing. That isn't that uncommon though. I usually see musicians standing in that spot. Not sure why they all pick that spot but I know I have many, many a picture of people playing their flutes, guitars and other instruments for a dollar here- maybe some spare change at the least. I got closer and took a few shots. I liked this guy's voice. I don't even remember what he was singing just that I remember being pleasantly surprised that I liked him as much as I did and I wished I had a dollar on me. I don't carry cash when I shoot so I just smiled at him and continued on. It did occur to me that this guy could have used the dollar too. He didn't seem to be too well off.
As I pass a bar, a guy outside is watching me watch everyone else. I'm sure I look strange. Sometimes I take pictures of things and people wonder what the hell I am looking at. Sometimes they even ask. "What the hell are you taking a picture of?" Another guy joins him out front of the bar and sees me with camera in hand. He asks me to take their picture. Ahhhh.... New Years. I put the camera up and as they pose, the more friendly of the two decides to pretend to grab the other one's package. Nice. I tell them it will be all over the Internet soon. They both laugh and the one with grabby hands asked me to come join them. I politely decline.
I walk back to the square in the center of Fells Point. This is the best place to get people shots. The benches invite people to come sit and pose for me even though they don't realize they have just become my models. I see a large woman in a motorized chair and a man sitting on one of the benches talking. He has a two seater blue bicycle next to him. It's a pretty baby blue color and has one red ball and a purple rose on it for no particular reason. I begin to sneak pictures of it when he spots me. "You like my bike?" he asks with a smile. I tell him I like it very much (I actually said that-- I talk like that..."I like it very much") He seems to take great pride in this. I can tell they don't have much of anything. His pride in his bike makes it that much more attractive to me. There is a blue plastic grocery bag tied to the middle and as I think to myself that I will have a hard time cropping it out later the woman speaks up, ""You want us to move that bag for ya?" I laugh and put my hand on her shoulder and say, "Now here is a woman with a really good eye! I was just thinking about that bag myself!" They move the bag- I take my pictures and leave them with well wishes for the next year.
I continue to walk the same steps again knowing that with each person who comes and goes the opportunities for interesting pictures will change. I find myself back to the guitar player. This time I am focused on something else but I am still too aware of what is going on around me and notice that a homeless man has approached him. They start to talk and I now pull the camera from my head to watch. I hear the homeless man giving compliments to this singer of songs and am quite amazed when I see the homeless man take change from his pocket and put it in the musician's jar. The musician stops playing. He thanks him but adds, "No, friend, YOU take one of my dollars. Take it." I see him reach into the jar and push money into the homeless man's hand. The man takes the musician's hand to his face and thanks him. I shoot. I am so moved by what I just witnessed that I blur the shot. As the homeless man walks by me and I turn to see them again- they are saying "Happy New Year" to each other and the homeless man turns back to the singer of songs and makes a thankful gesture with his hands once - then twice more. And I shoot. And I walk. Quickly. I can't get to the ATM fast enough. When I get back to the guitar player I stand and look him in the eyes standing very close to him. He's singing but only I am there so I interrupt and ask, "Did you just give that man one of your dollars?" He sheepishly smiles and gives me a timid, "Yeah." I put the $20 bill in his jar. He sees the bill and starts to protest, "No ma'am! Awww.. you can't do that." He's right- I can't afford it. I'm so far in debt right now its not funny. But I can not imagine any better use of that $20 bill than what I just did and there is not one- NOT ONE- fiber of my being that tells me I should be doing anything else. My whole soul was screaming to do this. I tell him, "No- that is meant for you." He answers me with, "Well, that's real nice!" I respond, "You started it....." I left him with a smile and the best feeling in my heart. All I kept thinking was 'WOW! I just saw a REAL pay it forward thingy!' It's like all the Internet stories that get forwarded and make you all teary eyed but this was real! And I saw it! And I got to help!!! I felt so honored. Honored that something made it possible (God, fate, chance) that I could be there and see such selflessness as what I had just seen.
The love of music from a homeless man who would give the little change he had to a man who was a bit better off than he was.
The love of a man for the people around him to give a dollar instead of change to someone who needed it more.
And my love for the two of them at that moment.
Darkness was coming. Fells Point was eerily empty and quiet before the big night was set to begin. I wandered around taking beautiful night pictures. Some of the best I have ever shot I think. I passed a group of three guys (who have started New Years early) who ask me to take their picture. I find it funny that only guys do this to me. I take their picture as one pretends to grab the other one's chest. They laugh and say, "Wait til that ends up on Facebook." I said, "Well, its better than what the last group of guys grabbed on each other." They laugh at that and ask me if I want to get in the picture with them. I politely decline.
As I leave Fells Point I can not get over the sense of renewal I feel. The sense of respect for people. The sense that I have the ability to make a difference in the world and that to not do so is the absolute worst way to spend a year. I go home, open a bottle of wine, think of my day and can't help but feel a sense of New Year's already being rung in. For me- it has already begun.
Happy New Year~
Incredible! Thank you.
ReplyDeletebeautiful.....
ReplyDeleteAgain you create magic with your camera and your words.
ReplyDeleteKeep on blogging !
Happy New Year !!