Peering over her shoulder
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2008
About this photo: All week long, Thematic sticks its lens where it doesn't belong as we share perspectives on complete strangers. Click here to share your own.I have no idea who this woman is, and I'm pretty sure I shot this picture-within-a-picture picture so quickly that she never knew I was even there. Which suits me fine, because I'm pretty sure she would have been creeped out if she knew someone had trained a lens on her camera's screen while she was trying to follow her grandchildren around the surf.
Be that as it may, there's an interesting vibe associated with being in an overtly public space because there's no way to fully isolate the private from the public. We don't haul around cubicle-like partitions with us, so it's entirely likely that we'll end up capturing others in the process - and likewise others will end up capturing us. Want to stay completely off the grid? Stay home.
On the plus side, it was a joy to see grandma, indeed any grandma, out and about with her kinderlings. This is, after all, what life is supposed to be about. Stranger or not, it was nice to see.
Your turn: So what's grandma thinking right about now?
