O and I were photographing downtown L.A. again, when I bumped into a very gentle man who was taking a break from work. He introduced himself as Felipe and is a chef in one of the big hotels there.
He was warm and friendly, so I asked if I could take his picture. He said as long as I wasn't going to use the photo to harm him, it would be okay with him. I promised him that my intentions were honorable and that I only wanted to put his picture in my blog as a nice man I met on my photographic journey. He agreed with a smile.
I thought about what he said. I can't imagine a stranger would have to ask me if I would harm him. For me it's unthinkable. I guess innocence is lost when you're an adult.
Innocence lost when you're an adult...or live in the mean streets of the big city. A few years back, I went on a cruise to Alaska and one of the stops was at the tiny port town of Sitka. After a long day of sightseeing, my girlfriends and I walked down an empty, quiet street back to the ship. It was evening but still light out since the summer days in Alaska are looong. Suddenly, a pick-up truck full of boisterous teenagers rounded a corner and came tearing towards us. The kind with monster big wheels. There were teens crammed in the open truck bed. There teens hanging out of the windows on the passenger side, etc. They were shouting and screaming at us and immediately we three city girls put up our guard and were ready to slug back with a back "fuck you, assholes" or whatever insult best befit the moment. Before we could sling our best shots, we realized these rowdy kids were screaming over and over "we LOVE you, tourists! Come back soon!"
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