Saturday March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, I decided to photograph the parade in downtown Seattle. Since I had never been to this parade, I had no idea how big it was so I went my usual 2+ hours early to the staging area where I like to shoot instead of the parade itself. I discovered I was alone in an area with only a truck and a few people. So I walked to Elliot Bay Books in Pioneer Square, with it's infamous open area known to be the daytime home to many transients.
While I was walking around photographing scenes and people I saw a good photograph with a young woman in black walking in front of some building fronts. So from across the street I held the camera and waited. Well, she saw me and stopped. When I let down the camera to see why she hadn't continued walking she walked across the street opening her cellphone say, "You can't take my photo without my permission and I refuse. If you do, I'll call the police." Well I explained it's public space and it's open to anyone taking photos of anything and anyone. She walked away in a hurry and a huff. It was a shame, it would have made a nice photo, but I'll never know now.
Anyway, I walked from there to the bookstore, wandered the bookstore, had a mocha, and walked back to the staging area closer about an hour before the parade was scheduled. I have a gallery of the downtown photos. After that I photographed people in the staging area and the parade getting started. I have a gallery of the parade photos. They're just walking around photos of people until the rain finally got to me to say enough and head back uptown to a cafe to get coffee and dry off since I didn't take a hat.
The one thing I still have to learn is getting closer to people to get better portraits, but for now I use a longer lens, usually a 85mm or 135mm lens. Like it's the only thing I have to learn. But that's life in photography, always something to learn and to do. And I have a life in retirement to spend the time.
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