Monday, July 04, 2005

Nice hats!


I saw this scene as I was leaving the park this afternoon. My first thought, "did I get off the bus in Arkansas?"

I snapped a few more pics, when mom and dad can hat asked me if I was a reporter. I said no. They asked why I was taking pictures of their kids if I were not a reporter. I explained that I take pictures of weird things for my blog. The blog reference when right over their heads, but the "weird things" picked a nerve. They asked, "What’s weird about our kids?"

I was at a loss for words for a moment. “I do not mean weird bad, I mean weird funny. Your kids are playing in tree roots while wearing soda can boxes for hats. It is visually funny.”

They respond, “You think our kids are funny looking?”

I offer “Well… Yes – what they are doing is funny”

Their parting retort (as I walk away), they may be slow but they aint funny lookin, hey don’t you have to pay us to take pictures of our kids?”

I ran for the bus stop – I needed to get back to California fast.

3 comments:

Johnny C said...

It is so hard to take good pictures sometimes... cause people are like WTF are you taking a picture of. And then you gotta run, or kick some ass... unless you can talk your way out...

you should just say you work for an online publication. If they ask you what its about, tell them culture, trends and human connectivity... thats vaugue enough to be confusing but good enough to get them to shut up...

jkirlin said...

Yeah...people get humorless when they give their children garbage to play with.

I wouldn't have tried this shot though. They beat and burn people alive in Mexico for less than this.

People are lunatics. I don't trust them. Johnny Crow is right. Unless you have some muscle or mace, leave the crazy SOBs alone. :)

Nice shot this time, though.

Anonymous said...

LOL! Funny picture. I had to double-check to make sure it wasn't one of *my* kids.

I can kinda understand the parents' point of view. You never know what kind of pervs are out there, and to what purpose they are taking pictures.

At my kids' schools the parents have to give permission for the teachers to post pics of them on the internet. And they also make a point of never posting their full name.