Many people when they see my creeper photos either think it is totally strange or very interesting. One of the questions I get most often is what if they see you taking the picture? For most people, I take every possible precaution to make sure they don’t see. If they do see me there is a special tactic I imploy to sooth their suspicion.

1. If you notice you have been spotted, don’t run away in fear of being called out. Most people will not call you out, so keep it cool and they will just give you a weird look then walk away. People are not very confrontational and if you keep it cool nothing will happen. Most people assume they are being paranoid and don’t do anything about it.
2. Occassionally though, they will call you out. So if a person seems a little peeved here is my strategy. Still, do not run away. Stay put and then put your camera up again like you are going to take another photo and wait till the are out of the frame and take a new photo. Make a real spectacle of what you are doing and make it as apparent as possible that your intent for that picture was not the person. Once they see you do this, they will not do anything about it because they assume that you were taking a picture of what is behind them and they just happen to be in the shot. They never think they they are the shot.

So, disaster averted and the world does not end. If those don’t work…. then run. However, with children I let them see that I am taking their picture. Like this little girl, children make some of the most amazing eye contact with strangers and in that moment of eye contact is a connection  like you are peering into their life. Their eyes, like this little girls beautiful blue eyes, become a window into who they are. Even though I will never know who these kids become, for just a single moment it feels like I do know.

Kids often seem to enjoy it and smile or just stare. This little girl waved to me and I waved back then just smiled and walked away. Sometimes I fancy what the parents reactions are if later the kid tells them that some stranger took a picture of them. I wonder how this makes parents feel, how vulnerable must they be in that moment. Not knowing me, or knowing my intentions of taking these photos. I just want to give my hearts out to these people that I take pictures of, by letting me have their picture they are helping me better understand humanity one person at a time. My intentions are pure and often I feel people don’t understand that. Yes, this idea may be strange or creepy to people, but to me it is about uncovering mystery from thousands of perspectives. Taking pictures not of the people themselves but the stories that build up that person’s image.

So to all of my creeper photo subjects, thank you.

You were adorable. It is amazing to see how such a simple thing as a spraying water fountain can amuse and bring happiness to someone. You were having so much fun trying to grab the water as it shot up. You seemed to have so much fun even when you saw that the water simply slipped away because you knew in a few seconds more chances to catch it would arise time and time again. It was refreshing to see you having fun even though you never really could succeed.

There is a little girl
Sitting on the sidewalk
She cries with little
Hiccups of breath
As silver drops
Run rivers down her face
Her hair bobs with her bouncing breaths
She squeezes her eyes hut
Creasing a face
So soft and young
Making cardboard out of dough
Holding her knee in her hands

I bend as I near her
And crouch down next to her
She hiccups and sniffles
As she tilts her head my way
Her blue eyes swampy
And clouded as a stormy day
Her dress lies in tatters
A wand broken at her side
A basket of belongings
Strewn around her
As if blown into a warfield
I offer a smile
As I block the sun from her eyes
It is the least I could do

Dragging an arm across her face
She looks at me quizzically
“What’s wrong?” I ask
As I survey this battlefield
She looks from me to her dress
As she sniffles again
A Cinderella dress
Ready for the grand ball
I notice her tiara
Rattled in the snarls of her hair
“I fell and ripped my dress”
She whispers in a way only children can
Audible and loud
Yet you have to lean in to hear

“That’s alright” I reply
“Everyone falls down sometimes”
She shakes her head fiercely
As if trying to rid herself of a bad dream
“All I wanted to do”
She cried sobbing all anew now
“Was be a princess
But look at what I have done”
She points to her wand
Broken and destroyed
Looks at her dress
Ruined and dirty
“How can I be a princess now?”

“You don’t need a wand,” I say
As I pick up the pieces
“Or a dress” I put the pieces in her lap
Full of torn and ruffled clothes
“To be a princess all you need
Is a good heart and a quick mind”
Yet again I offer a smile
She tilts her head at me no longer crying
Examining me and my words
As they lay at her feet
I watch as she picks them up
Studies them and their worth
And offers me a smile back in return
Small but honest and true
“Remember that,” I say
“And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise”

I help her to her feet
She sniffles one last time
As she picks up the debris
Of a life she no longer needs
I nod and she nods
I walk past her smiling
I turn back once
And the little princess waves
I wave back
Wishing my little princess in me
Hadn’t left me so long ago