July Photo Challenge Day 24: A Stranger

Ok it's July and this guy is dressed for winter, I know. That is because this is a photo I took in December 2009 in Boulder, CO. Other than the writing this photo is completely untouched and it's one of my favorite photos from that road trip.

Sometimes a good photo is purely the luck of the draw. As a rule I don't typically take photos of strangers - it feels awkward and voyeuristic to me. Nevertheless, that day I decided to be bold and see what I could do (a friend of mine and I were just talking to each other about how we never take photos of strangers).

As we were walking through Boulder on a very chilly winter day, we passed by this man. Here was my chance! I quickly lifted the camera and snapped and just as quickly replaced the lens cap and lowered the camera! So brave! ...he had no idea what had just happened. Our lives had just intersected.

When I got home and saw what I captured I was amazed. The color and snowflakes hanging in the window display balance the browns/blacks and whites outside and reflected his hat. This gentleman was playing his sax so earnestly in hopes of a few coins tossed into the velvet lining of his saxophone case. All of it captured in one snap of the shutter.

There is a quote on the building behind him. It's a shortened version of the following:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ~ Mark Twain

I am privileged to have shared this man's little corner of the earth for this brief moment.