Sometimes in the evening, Maria and I go out and take photos, we drive around the beautiful hills of Washington County, New York. Many times, I get scolded for walking on the roads, or for pulling the car over, or for standing along a highway trying to get a shot of the sunset. I can’t count how many times people have yelled at me, although no farmer has pulled a rifle on me for some time, I think they know me by now.

Last night, we pulled over at a stop sign – Maria is very scrupulous about stopping in a safe place – and a woman in a white SUV came up behind us. She had to driver around our car to come to the road, which has great visibility on both sides. “Excuse me,” she yelled, “this is dangerous!” I nodded to her, but she kept yelling that what I was doing was dangerous, I wasn’t sure what  I was supposed to say, so I said “thank you.”

I think that wasn’t the right thing, as she drove off in a huff, yelling “dangerous” every few yards until she went over the horizon. She was annoyed, I asked Maria if I was doing anything dangerous, and she said no, the woman didn’t know what she was talking about. Maria does not lie or make excuses for me, I have the scars to prove. If I had been doing something dangerous, Maria would have been out of the car long before the SUV came, and yelled at me the loudest.

I have been yelled at many times in the course of my photography, sometimes justly, sometimes not.  I used to be reckless, running around in the near dark with dark clothes, a truck whizzed by and hit my tripod once and nearly took my head off. I don’t hop out of the car in the dark any more, I always make sure the flashers are on, Maria is always yelling at me to get out of the road. I supposed I should have said I was sorry to the woman in the SUV, but I wasn’t really. It wasn’t dangerous, she just didn’t like having to pull around us a few feet, some people are like that.

Photography, like reporting, is by nature intrusive. And obsessive. When the light is right, I will do almost anything to get the shot. I have the right, of course, to pull off a wide country road and take a photo, so long as I don’t block the road or step in traffic (I have done both of those things, I am sorry, since Maria I don’t do them any more.) How can I explain that need for that perfect angle, wanting to get the sunset and the curve of the road, the directional signs that give the photo a different feel.

There are a lot of grumpy people in the world, and a lot of sweet ones. Most of the time, people wave at me and give me a thumbs up or ask me where they can see my photos. If I have annoyed anyone, I am sorry. Sort of.