These guys asked me to take their picture. It was a long exposure and they didn't hear the shutter and mirror snap, so they didn't believe me when I said, "I got it." But I did. Here they are...four dudes looking all crunky.
"Freaks, man. Dude walking around with a camera, getting all up in people's faces. What's up with that?" Biz, man, it's all biz. That freak was me, and that monologue ran through my head as I stood on a sidewalk in Daytona Beach, Florida, during Spring Break Nationals, shooting snaps at people as cars and trucks bursting with subs and dumped on 20s bumped and bounced on by.
Spring Break Nats is the most well-known sound-off show. It's been around for a couple of decades now. Timed with the 20-something revelry of East Coast students letting their hair hang down, it's a great place to hang out on the strip and shoot the auto enthusiast scene. Invisibility was key for me: My camera was screwed onto my tripod; the cable release was in my hand, and if I bothered to acknowledge anyone at all, then I brightened a bit by giving them a half smile and a nod as they strolled by before I made like a lamppost again. Once a spot played out, I moved on. Click, go, repeat. Most people didn't know what I was doing, which was getting some abstract pics for our show coverage. Some fired questions at me in a verbal drive-by: "Cool camera!" "Who you work for? Truckin'?! Take my picture!
"We never ran the show coverage, so my photos have been tucked away in my hard drive. Here's a few of them, loaded into the chamber, and aimed right at ya. The next time you see someone standing by the side of a road with a camera, stop and let them take your picture. Maybe even hang out, and you can be a freak, just like me.