Wandering mind

One of the things I enjoy doing is approaching random people on the street to have a chat and then take their portrait. Usually something interesting about them calls out: strong facial features, behavior, color. I try really hard not to chose subjects who are down on their luck: I figure the last thing they need is the intrusion of my lens in their lives.

So when I engaged Samia because her cute hat and very colorful pants cut a nice figure, I had not expected to chance upon a homeless person with a  bit of a wandering mind. But here I was, so I went with it. We had a long-ranging sidewalk conversation of about an hour, with most of the talking done by Samia, in a halting and staccato speech. Her eyes flitted all over the place and it was difficult to maintain eye contact with her.

Her first concern was that I might be working for the CIA and wanted her picture to frame her as a Russian spy. Once I explained who I was, she effortlessly switched into French for a while to tell me the part of her life when she was married to a Middle Eastern monarch and represented that country as its ambassador. Her story meandered to countries and circumstances all over the world and she pulled out a number of photos from her bag in which she is depicted with various important looking people. 

At the end of it all, we parted ways and I'm still not sure what is reality and what is fantasy. But I'd like to think that at least I provided a small outlet for her -- however brief.