Street Photography with Jesse Acosta: medium format

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Story of a Quarter

It was my first outing with my newly acquired Yashica Mat124G. It was a Friday evening, and I wanted to shoot a roll to test out the camera. I walked my normal route and on the floor I saw a quarter; a 25 cents coin. The coin was facing up, and it was on the concrete sidewalk. I picked it up and put in my right pocket. For a split second I wondered how that coin ended up there. Then I went back to searching for photos to take. I took some photos, and being that a 120 roll has only 12 exposures, I was careful with my shots. Then I saw a man on the corner of the street. He was shirtless and was standing in front of a cardboard box; he must have been asking for money. I was on the other side of the street and thought about taking his photo from across the street. But I wanted to get closer. I crossed the street to be on his side, and right away he noticed me. Then I remembered I had a quarter in my pocket. I got closer and asked him "I trade you a quarter for a photo" which he agreed to by opening his hand to accept the trade. I told him that I would take his photo first. Still trying to get used to the new camera, I did the best I could and took the shot. I wanted to take another one for safety, but my roll ran out. I reached into my right pocket and pulled out the coin and handed it to him.