Portraits of People

Everywhere the streets are bustling as people try to have adventures.  My adventure today is a small one, I’m sitting in my normal spot, methodically sipping my coffee as the crowd walks by.  It seems that each person has a destination, as I will in around 20 minutes when I leave for work.

The mix is strange; the crowd consists  of tourists, performers putting up their promotional fliers, and disgruntled locals who are sick of all the foolish and shallow sightseers.  Tourists do not seek real adventure, instead they seek reputation.  They want so badly for everyone to know where they have been.  They want proof in the form of souvenirs. Intelligent locals exploit this fact by selling tourists ‘local’ items that have been imported from China.  These are usually nothing but cheap trinkets.

I am guilty too, except I don’t want cheap trinkets, even if I could afford them.  Instead, I take pictures of things, hopefully things that are interesting in some way.   I imagine that any important area of Edinburgh has already been photographed a million times by people with better eyes and cameras than me.

It’s time to have a destination.  I’ve had my release and have mentally prepared for the grueling onslaught that will numb my mind for 11 hours. It will be nice when I can stop working to live.