No Solicitors

It’s a mundane, muggy Saturday morning.  I’m at the laundromat, doing what most bachelors do at the laundromat – washing my clothes.  You know … the boring Chuck Miller life.

Let’s face it.  I’m at a laundromat.  What do you expect from a laundromat, anyway?  Washers, dryers, a candy machine, two old video game machines, and a TV that only shows two channels (RTV and MeTV), both of which are currently airing vintage episodes of “The Rifleman.”  Meh.

My clothes are in the washer.  I sit down on one of the worn, weathered chairs, waiting for completion of the wash cycle.  The breakfast sandwich I ate at Dunkin’ Donuts is still growling in my stomach.  Laundromats aren’t bastions of excitement, and although this suds palace does offer wireless internet connection for its customers, I rarely bring my laptop to this place; you want to get your clothes washed, dried, folded and in the car.  This isn’t time for playing World of Warcraft.

The sun is shining though the plate glass windows at the laudnromat, and I can see the shadows from the decals on the window glass as they appear on the laundromat’s inner walls.  No Solicitiors, one of the signs says.  Ha, that’s funny – it’s right next to probably the only remaining pay phone in the Town/Village, if not in Albany County.  No solicitors, and it’s near a pay phone.  Bet all the telephone solicitors would freak if they saw that…

A quick trip to my car.  Are there any cameras in the car with me?  Nothing in the front seat.  Nothing in the back – oh wait, there’s my Agfa Chief, and it’s got some Kodak Tri-X packed in it from another photo project.

I look at the exposure window.  It’s at “7”.  I have two shots left in this camera.

What the hell.  Let’s use ’em.  Waste not, want not.

The Agfa Chief is a great camera for my experimental shots, but let’s see if I can get something good with just straight camerawork.

Looks like I did.

Is this going in any photo competitions?  Not likely.  This was just a chance moment in time… with a photo that actually brightened my dreary morning.