Runcible Blog

not quite a mall rat

Continuing this week's photo assignment, I went to the Rockingham Park Mall in search of motion. I took pictures of people on the escalators, people walking, old men sitting. In this area, people are generally uncomfortable about being photographed. Bostonians are perhaps more "blind" to photographers, or maybe they're less paranoid. I took one shot pointing down the mall from upstairs with my wide angle lens. The whole time I was setting up my tripod and figuring the exposure, the ridiculous guys working at a cellular phone kiosk kept staring at me as if they'd never seen a camera before. It was almost funny. I felt like doing something to really creep them out, like mouthing, "I'm watching you." and then laughing maniacally. Or I could have pulled my hood over my eyes and pointed at them menacingly. The other day in Boston I was shooting on the T on the red line. I was pointing my camera in a direction near the window, and a guy sitting seemed to think I was pointing at him (actually, I probably was), and he looked really nervous. He was squirming in his seat the whole time I had my camera out. I can only imagine what he must've been thinking. I think people need to relax a little -- so what if I'm trying to steal your souls!