May 10th, 2010

I'd like you to meet Ezekiel . . . Ezekiel is a saxophone player who I had the pleasure of photographing on River Street in Savannah over the weekend. You could hear is soulful playing from blocks away. When I asked if I could photograph his playing, he looked me over with his one good eye - gazed from me to my gear and said "Since you shoot Nikon, you go right ahead - just so you know, if you had Canon hanging there, I'd've said no." And with that, gave me an infectious laugh and proceeded to play.

I snapped away while he played on . . . after he finished, I began asking about his story. Ezikiel is a Viet Nam vet who - believe it or not - was a photographer during the war. He shot Black and White Polaroid. It wasn't clear to me if he lost the use of his right eye in the war, but he was very positive about it, saying - All I need is one good one. Profound and enlightening . . . Part of the reason I started this FACES blog is to not only hone my portraiture, but to meet new and interesting people. Very glad I had the chance to Meet Ezikiel and hear his music.