jared . 22 years old / boulder . colorado
boulder was packed today! the weather was gorgeous, so the masses were taking full advantage. i went up there for a few hours with a friend of mine for a change of scenery. seconds after we parked the car near the pearl street mall, drama ensued.
a car pulled through one of the pedestrian crosswalks while people were passing. one of the pedestrians called something sarcastically complimentary out after the driver of said car. this was promptly followed by the driver slamming on his brakes, aggressively climbing out of his car, and meeting the outspoken pedestrian in the middle of the street. there was some yelling. some chest bumping. arguing. someone called someone else "boy" and then the accused needed to make sure he heard right, so responded with the ever so clever, "who you calling boy?!". it was all terribly interesting in the same way that watching a chimpanzee throwing a temper tantrum would be. it is so nice we humans have the ability to reason.
the two "humans" argued in the street while nearly all of pearl street snickered and jeered at the circus act. eventually another man reminded everyone that there were children around and people should watch their words, but even his tone was frightening. it was what i like to call a total "shit show."
the rest of the day was drama free, thankfully. although my luck with the strangers did follow a chaotic and frustrating course. an older gentleman in cool prescription glasses caught my eye. he passed by with another man, but i hesitated. i eventually ran down the street after him. i excused myself but was torn to shreds with "not interested" and "it's not going to be me" comments and chuckles.
a young couple barely stopped to give me their negative reaction. an elderly bearded and bespectacled gentleman approached, but didn't even break stride as he said something like, "you can take pictures of me if you'd like, but i'm not stopping!". there were another couple of rejections, i think, but they apparently weren't even worth remembering.
boulder is supposed to be one of the smartest towns in the country, so i guess i only found tourists, because i didn't encounter much brilliance today. maybe they assumed i wanted monthly donations or credit card information or social security numbers. i don't know. i'd like to say i don't care, but i do. all too much.
after quite some time and a lot of frustration, i saw this younger curly-haired, bearded guy step out of the bank near where i was standing. his plaid shorts, t-shirt, and sandals all boasted "care-free", so i figured he was a definite yes.
jared did say yes, but i'm not convinced he actually wanted to. he was polite and patient and friendly even, but didn't seem to be overly thrilled with the idea of being today's stranger. sometimes it's a tough sell.
he grew up in the area and is currently studying economics at the university of colorado at boulder. after finding out i lived in boston, he told me he really liked the red sox. i don't know much about the red sox, so i always find it difficult to add anything to that conversation. today didn't prove any different. i guess those two things were all i found out about him, but i'm convinced he had a lot more to share.
after photographing jared, i sat down with my friend and told her that the project needs to change. i think i need to meet people and then photograph them. maybe it's a barista at a café or a bartender. it could be a dude that works at a bike shop that i stop in. maybe a server or a taxi driver. i don't know exactly how it needs to work out, but i don't like meeting people just to get their photographs. some interesting relationships have come from this, but some days feel like this is nothing but exploitation. i don't like that.
anyway... jared, thanks for stopping today. i appreciate your time.
boulder was packed today! the weather was gorgeous, so the masses were taking full advantage. i went up there for a few hours with a friend of mine for a change of scenery. seconds after we parked the car near the pearl street mall, drama ensued.
a car pulled through one of the pedestrian crosswalks while people were passing. one of the pedestrians called something sarcastically complimentary out after the driver of said car. this was promptly followed by the driver slamming on his brakes, aggressively climbing out of his car, and meeting the outspoken pedestrian in the middle of the street. there was some yelling. some chest bumping. arguing. someone called someone else "boy" and then the accused needed to make sure he heard right, so responded with the ever so clever, "who you calling boy?!". it was all terribly interesting in the same way that watching a chimpanzee throwing a temper tantrum would be. it is so nice we humans have the ability to reason.
the two "humans" argued in the street while nearly all of pearl street snickered and jeered at the circus act. eventually another man reminded everyone that there were children around and people should watch their words, but even his tone was frightening. it was what i like to call a total "shit show."
the rest of the day was drama free, thankfully. although my luck with the strangers did follow a chaotic and frustrating course. an older gentleman in cool prescription glasses caught my eye. he passed by with another man, but i hesitated. i eventually ran down the street after him. i excused myself but was torn to shreds with "not interested" and "it's not going to be me" comments and chuckles.
a young couple barely stopped to give me their negative reaction. an elderly bearded and bespectacled gentleman approached, but didn't even break stride as he said something like, "you can take pictures of me if you'd like, but i'm not stopping!". there were another couple of rejections, i think, but they apparently weren't even worth remembering.
boulder is supposed to be one of the smartest towns in the country, so i guess i only found tourists, because i didn't encounter much brilliance today. maybe they assumed i wanted monthly donations or credit card information or social security numbers. i don't know. i'd like to say i don't care, but i do. all too much.
after quite some time and a lot of frustration, i saw this younger curly-haired, bearded guy step out of the bank near where i was standing. his plaid shorts, t-shirt, and sandals all boasted "care-free", so i figured he was a definite yes.
jared did say yes, but i'm not convinced he actually wanted to. he was polite and patient and friendly even, but didn't seem to be overly thrilled with the idea of being today's stranger. sometimes it's a tough sell.
he grew up in the area and is currently studying economics at the university of colorado at boulder. after finding out i lived in boston, he told me he really liked the red sox. i don't know much about the red sox, so i always find it difficult to add anything to that conversation. today didn't prove any different. i guess those two things were all i found out about him, but i'm convinced he had a lot more to share.
after photographing jared, i sat down with my friend and told her that the project needs to change. i think i need to meet people and then photograph them. maybe it's a barista at a café or a bartender. it could be a dude that works at a bike shop that i stop in. maybe a server or a taxi driver. i don't know exactly how it needs to work out, but i don't like meeting people just to get their photographs. some interesting relationships have come from this, but some days feel like this is nothing but exploitation. i don't like that.
anyway... jared, thanks for stopping today. i appreciate your time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment