for senior portraits!
I just got back from our session, but had to toss up this sneak peek:
I always say that I like shooting on location because it keeps things from getting boring. Today's shoot brought that phrase a whole different meaning.
I should have known that it was going to be an abnormal day when we saw The Pink T-Shirt Guy (as he will forever be tagged in my memory). A middle aged man, either homeless, drunk, crazy, or some combination of the above, was walking down the street in a short pink t-shirt...and nothing else. No shoes, no pants...no underwear.
Now, I love shooting in Manitou Springs, because it offers all the fun of a grungy urban location, but I've still always felt totally safe shooting there. Until today.
At the end of our shoot, Ariana realized that she'd misplaced her cell phone, so I helped her look for it on the grounds of the public library (where I always start my senior sessions). We were minding our own business, looking around for her cell phone, when I saw a drunk guy hop the (very short) wall around the grounds and come walking towards us. Following behind him at a run was an overweight policeman.
At first I thought that it couldn't possibly be what it appeared to be...mostly because the overweight middle aged cop looked too much like Will Smith's cop partner at the beginning of Men In Black (remember that scene?).
And then things got more interesting. The cop yelled out "tackle"...and since Ariana and I weren't more than three feet away from both of them at the time, we looked at each other and then both walked in the other direction.
The cop tackled Mr Drunk to the ground and cuffed him. The other policemen arrived a few minutes later, no doubt very excited to be doing something other than arresting men without pants (which I can only assume happened moments prior). I couldn't help wondering if maybe the overweight cop could have used better judgment and waited a few steps before jumping on his suspect. It seems like if you have a big grassy field, you might want to wait until the guy is more than three steps away from innocent bystanders. Then again, if you're worried you might have a heart attack keeping up with your suspect (whose walk I wouldn't even call brisk), you would probably feel the need to tackle him as quickly as possible.
And that, my friends, is just the sort of experience you could never have at a portrait studio. I'm thinking about incorporating that into my company's branding somehow. Like "Come get your picture taken with Traci. You're taking your life into your own hands, but you'll be able to take your picture as you wet your pants in fear!" Or maybe not. ;)
