#photo notes

My next post was taken just across the highway from San Quentin Prison in the predawn hours of Saturday last. I get a bit wary when I am in unfamiliar places in the early morning hours on a photo shoot by myself as was the case on this day. I never really had a menacing build even in my youth but now...well, lets not go there. I wanted to shoot the Richmond San Rafael Bridge and when I got off of the freeway there was a convenient Vista Point right off the exit. It was pretty remote and except for a steady stream of (what I guessed was) prison workers heading for work there was not a sign of life in sight except for a few fish in the water. After only 5 minutes of shooting another car pulled into the small parking lot and the man got out and smoked a cigarette. I kept looking over my shoulder to try to get a look at him but he was in the shadows and turned slightly away from me. All I could tell about him was his car wasn't new but it wasn't really old either. His presence was so distracting in my paranoid state that I lost all concentration in the shoot. I hastily collapsed the tripod and headed for the car. As I passed him he asked "didn't get anything good?" to which I can't even remember my reply as my finger was poised over my cars panic button. There really is no point to this story just thought I would share my state of mind and lament over the sad fact that we have to be so cautious of strangers when we are out. Or maybe the thought of a Maximum Security Prison just across the highway was playing with my head...

Chas