Dick's at Dawn

dick's at dawn, originally uploaded by penseroso.

photo and text © ervin vice

I was all on fire early one morning last summer, testing out my new Nikon D300 and trying all sorts of fun stuff with it.

I saw this apparently empty cab parked on the side of the road in lower Queen Anne and immediately felt inspiration take hold of me. Rather than wonder where the driver went, instead I wondered what kind of shot I could get if I looked through the cab and across the street. Its windows were open to the balmy air, so I knew I could get a clear view. I assumed position right beside the cab on the drivers side and started firing off frames.

The shutter on the D300 is rather noisy, so I shouldn't have been surprised when the driver bolted upright and stared straight into the camera, eyes as big as plates. He'd been sprawled out across the passenger seat, sleeping between fares.

"Oh, it's OK," I said, nonchalantly, "I'm just taking pictures" - as if that explained everything.

"Oh," he said, and promptly fell back down to resume his sleep.

I wish security guards had his attitude.