Deja Vu

Went to Home Depot today. Home Depot is the primo supplier of goods for the money challenged who are looking to construct what we lovingly refer to as a "Ghetto Home Studio." Picked up a few dowels and hooks that hopefully will work in supporting a few backdrop muslins. Had less luck in making the right contact to get a few empty cardboard rollers that formerly held vinyl flooring. One guy said "Yeah sure...just get an ok from a manager," and the manager I approached blew me off with a: "No, We compact those," as he scurried away.

Weather was nice, so I decided to stop in Lancaster City to shoot a few frames as long as I was only two minutes away. Parked the car, headed to Queen Street and Binn's Park, and came upon something I hadn't witnessed in many years...a war protest rally. Good sized crowd in the park, passionate speakers, and about a hundred people with cameras poking them here, there, everywhere, and in general, bordering on being an annoyance. I'm not good at these kinds of close encounters. It just feels too intrusive to me to get right up in someone's face and snap off frames like they were an attraction at a zoo. Paparazzi I'm not.




I retreated to a position on a pedestrian bridge about 30-40 yards away where I could get a wider shot of the crowd and felt better about that. One thing that struck me almost immediately was how well behaved the crowd was. Not that I expected a raucous group in Lancaster County, but it was all polite applause and a few scattered people shouting "Yeah!". No long haired guys or girls with guitars and leather vests sitting on the grass singing protest songs. Very circumspect. A few peace sign banners and one girl with rainbow colored hair. No dancing hippies. Only two guys wearing clown makeup with homemade signs that were absent of any profanity. For better or worse...this was the face of "Protest 2008." "Not at all like the protests of the 60's," I thought. However...



A few minutes later I decided to go to one of my favorite picture taking spots...the roof of the Prince Street Garage, which was just a few feet away from my current vantage point. I went to the stairwell leading to the roof, took about three steps, and was nearly knocked over by the unmistakable odor of a 60's war protest rally staple...pot. Yeah it's illegal...yeah it's bad for you...yeah I don't condone or recommend it...but sweet baby James, for a moment there I was transported 40 years to 1968 and couldn't help but smile and consider that maybe things hadn't changed all that much.





Staggered to the roof...took a few deep breaths of fresh air and went to my "spot" overlooking Prince Street. I am quite simply fascinated by the look of people from an overhead view. Groups of people create patterns we can't see from eye level. Shadows add depth and drama we also never see looking head on. I'm mesmerized by this view even on days when the stairwell atmosphere is in it's normal high urine content mode. Stayed for a few minutes, was happy with the shots I got, and went back to the rally (stairwell still quite potent) which was now organized into a march through some downtown Lancaster Streets.

Headed home, hoping to stop at what I heard was a car show of some sort at a Sonic Drive-In near there. I love shooting old classics, but this turned out to be very modern cars ...the kind that do that "drifting" sort of wacky racing on winding roads and garage ramps seen in movies. No interest there for me, so I continued home. Now I'm not saying I spent any more time than necessary on that garage stairwell...I didn't, but I did have a monster case of the "munchies" when I pulled into my driveway. Interesting day.