Day 99 Tomato factory

Once again I was home from the fair at about 11 pm and not wanting to set up a picture at home "tomorrow" I decided to go out after midnight and get a photo. My drive home takes me past a tomato factory which looks really cool with all it's shinny metal pipes and smoke blowing out. Since starting this blog I have wanted to go out and get a picture of it. But usually I'm to tired or already have my picture for the day. Wanting to shoot something "tonight" I drove out there. I parked my jeep on a dirt edge where a few other cars were parked.

Now having been a photojournalist and having photographed businesses before I know they can be pretty nervous about people taking pictures so I thought I would hurry up. However, it was so much fun photographing all the metal pipes and smoke and I was trying this new process where I let my mind accept any unexpected photographic gifts. Like a motorcycle which passed by or people passing by me and including them in the picture. I had this preconceived notion of how the picture should look and it was fun straying away from that concept. So I lingered there longer than I wanted, and sure enough guy in white shirt with a badge comes along asking me what am I doing. I inform him that I am taking pictures and that I am standing on a public street. He insists that I give him my name and I decline to give it because I am doing nothing wrong, this is America and my first amendment rights allow me to stand on a public street and take pictures. Of course he says he doesn't care about the first amendment and I tell him he should since he is living in America and obviously working in America. I don't like men trying to bully me. I also told him if he would be silent and listen I would tell him what the pictures are for. So I gave him my blog address, but only after I made him acknowledge that I was doing so because I don't care who looks at my blog and that it had nothing to do with him trying to intimidate me and after I made him say please, when he heard my blog url he laughed because he said he thought it was funny I'd call it the worst photographer ever. I told him I'm certainly not the best. I also asked him if the big wigs over there were afraid I was a tomato espionage spy.

A fair question because I remember photographing the goat milk making factory as a journalist and they insisted I didn't photograph certain things because they didn't want their Russian visitors to learn all their goat milk making secrets. So the guard wrote down my license plate number and I left. I left only because I was done taking pictures.

I have two pictures to share today. I did get all the pictures I planned of pipes and smoke but I like these two as they are different from what I was expecting to get. They are also very different from each other. I am drawn to both of them for obvious different reasons.

As a foot note I realize now about twelve hours later that I should have photographed the security guy. That would have been leaving myself open to accept the photographic gifts the universe gives you. This is a learning process.