Robert
I’ve written about these before on smugmug, but I like the photos too much to let them just sit there. The caption system just doesn’t do them justice.
(Originally posted November 20, 2009)
This is Robert.
He stopped by a few days ago wanting to rake leaves for a few bucks. I asked him to come back another day when the weather was better and let me photograph him. He said he would come back but insisted on wearing a better hat. I figured I had scared him off.
He came back the next day.
We spent a little while in the yard talking. I helped with the leaves so that we could keep talking.
We talked about his wife. She wanted chicken for dinner. After asking if I thought I would ever get married, he revealed he’s never actually been married. Robert was a firefighter, a factory worker and at one time, a truck driver. He’s since let his CDL expire. Driving trucks is what he loves, though. Long-haul. South Carolina to California.
We talked politics and growing up in the rural South. He’s from the same small town as my mother. Current population: 166. He sang a song that he remembered from 6th grade. He remembered the day JFK was killed. And Bobby. And MLK. We talked about Obama and whether or not he will accomplish all that he’s trying to do.
We briefly talked religion.
Robert is a comedian. His biggest influence is the best comedian of all time (well, after Richard Pryor died), Eddie Murphy.
After the leaves were done, we shared more stories over a cold one. Robert is a Budweiser man.
Robert has a business card. It reads “Little man with a big heart.”
The whole set can be seen here.