soup kitchen of sorts

Today I started my day with a 4 hour meeting. Joy. That meant very little time for blip, but luckily I saw something this morning that I knew I wanted to photograph, but haven't had a chance to post it until now.

Some mornings I pick up a latte from the Costa down the street before trying to spend as little time as possible outside of the air conditioned haven that is my office. On the way to get my coffee, there is a pavement down one of the streets, with a long row of tables and chairs. Every Ramadan, these soup kitchens of sorts pop up all over the city, providing food for the people who can't afford the crippling bills that go hand in hand with this month. I was struck by the way it all looked. The chairs, scattered around the pavement. Further up, the bright blue was replaced with dull yellow striped chairs. So before getting my coffee, I pulled out my camera and started shooting. Of course this got the attention of a few people in the street, a police officer included.

He walked toward me and asked me why I was taking the pictures. I knew instantly that he probably thought I was a journalist and I wanted to put that idea out of his mind as quickly as possible. Journalists with cameras are not the most popular with the establishment. I told him it was just a hobby, toyed with the idea of telling him about Blipfoto, but figured that would just be too complicated to go into. He then asked me why I was taking this photo in particular, "It doesn't look that great," he said.

I replied, "It does to me. It shows that there are people who are willing to do good for the less fortunate."

"Yeah, but look at how they left it."

What you can't see in this picture, what I purposefully left out, were the unfinished loaves of bread, the rubbish underneath the chairs and tables, the empty styrofoam plates.

He then proved what I had been worried about, saying, "So you're not a journalist?"

I assured him I wasn't, and told him that I worked down the street. And he smiled, told me to have a good day, and I went in one direction to get my coffee, and he went in the other...