Wednesday, July 05, 2006

It Never Fails (And Pictures - Did You Expect Anything Less?)

They just find me. It doesn't matter where I go, what I do, or who I am with. They will find me. I'm like a beacon.

Scene from after the fireworks show in Saint Paul. There are thousands of people wandering around, leaving the Taste of Minnesota festival and heading to their cars or homes since the big bangs were over. DM and I pause for a few minutes, waiting for the streets to not be chaos. We are packing up our camera gear (okay, so we put our cameras back in our purses/camera bags and folded up our tripods. Not much packing involved.) A man approaches me.

I say me because he did not actually acknowledge DM. I'm not actually sure if he saw her. She wasn't hidden, but I really don't think he saw her.

He is short, at least 20 years older than I am, and speaks with a Hispanic accent. He is also carrying around an open can of the cheapest smelling beer I've ever had to smell on an annoying man approaching me. It smelled about the same as I imagine it would when it comes back up (sorry for the visual).

Drunken Unattractive Idiot (DUI - okay, that made me laugh): Hey! Heh! You. Americans. I like Americans. (At least this is what I was able to decipher from the slurring.)

Me: *Not making eye contact*

DUI: Americans. I like. I no like black. I like Americans, like you.

Me: Great, he's an idiot. And extremely drunk. And apparently he only likes white Americans. He has a lot to learn. I'm very sure that Minnesota, especially Saint Paul, has a law against carrying an open container of alcohol like that around on the street.

DUI: I like Americans like you.

Me: Go away.

DUI: I have a big 4 inch p*nis!

Me: *Picks up my tripod in a defensive manner* Go away.

He does. I've found the solution! Imply physical violence. Doesn't matter what the intention is.

And seriously. Big? In your dreams.

DM and I were both just happy he stumbled off. As he did, I said to DM, "Holy crap, how do they find me?!?"

On that note, I will leave you with pictures. Happier images (unless you really don't like fireworks. DM and I took quite a few pictures of them.) I framed some of these and didn't do much other Photoshopping. One or two did get an extreme treatment, but those are not for this post.

Oh, and a couple of pictures I took before the show started. These have a little bit of color correction done.

Click any image to be launched to Flickr and see the larger sizes.

White Lines
White lines.
This is an extended exposure shot taken of headlights.

Robert Street Bridge framed
Robert Street Bridge.
Extended exposure again. I liked this one quite a bit and it reminds me of a postcard.

Harriet Island
Harriet Island.
The Taste of Minnesota is held here (used to be near the State Capitol.) You can see the bandstand and we were able to hear a little bit of the live music before the fireworks.

ooh
Ooh.
Tradition
Tradition.
Red White and Blue
Red, White & Blue.
My Favorite
My Favorite (as in style, not color).
Looks Like a Bird
Looks Like a Bird.
Pastels
Pastels.
For complete set, visit here.

And completely random:

Through My Looking Glass: Bird of Paradise
Through My Looking Glass: Bird of Paradise. I just learned how to finally create a sphere on a picture and this was just fun. The original picture (no edits) was taken in Lisbon when DM and I visited Johnny in April 2005. Still stands as the trip of a lifetime.