This photo was shot on agfa xp2 (c41 bw film) with intentions of providing a display of the "Everyday Life." This guy is one of the many folks that performs daily on the streets of St. Augustine, FL. I have sat listening to this guy usually trying to stay out of sight because I'm cheap and tell myself that street performers just buy booze and drugs with money that they earn. This may be the case for this guy too, but how should I know that. There are plenty of people that live in was different from myself (simply.) That in no way deserve to have me look down upon then in such a way that I use to justify in my mind to treat them in a particular way. I love this image because the musician is obviously playing with more intention than to just make a buck. He is blowing that harp (harmonica a.k.a. mouth harp) as if he's trying to pick a fight with anyone not excited about the blues. I only found it fitting to listen to Mississippi John Hurt while picking my brain about this mysterious harmonica man. Even though Hurt isn't known for the harp, he embodies all that is the blues.
I have never been homeless and hopefully never will be, but is this all that bad a thing? I have been taught my whole life to look at "hobos" as if they want to hurt me, scare me or steal from me. Who am I to assume that just because someone calls the road, woods, or a park bench and a backpack home that they cannot be trusted. I don't even know if the guy in this photograph is homeless, but the fact that he is performing on the street is (apparently) enough to cause me to drop him into this category. Well, I'm done now.
-nate
.....I have lived in St. Augustine forever it seems but have never made the connections with street musicians and Homless folk. Would be interesting to really find out. I am now curious.
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