Robert

A fear conquered today.

I picked up my camera from the shop downtown and it took such gloriously clean (and not green) photos! I sat in a market square downtown, brimming with people, to experiment with the camera a bit. There were children and birds and chairs and buildings, but there were also a surprising number of what seemed like homeless men, resting their bones in the chairs and warming their hearts in the fall sun. One of them, at a glance, looked like he would make a good subject, but it's the kind of thing I'm afraid to ask of strangers.

Still... how often does such glorious weather and a fresh-cleaned camera give you this opportunity, so I approached him and asked if I might take a photo. He waved me to an empty chair across from his chess board. Robert has lived in Pittsburgh his whole life and plays chess everyday to prevent himself from drinking. I shot two more photos of him lighting up a cigarette, when he said, "That's enough. I don't want to feel like a movie star." We parted ways and I was so happy I finally asked someone on the streets if I might capture a bit of their story.