Obama Socks

I have a post up on Shutter Sisters today on street photography.  In case you haven't noticed, this is one of my favorite genres in photography.  I took the photo above while on vacation in Portland last fall.  Obama was definitely all the rage, and I thought it curious that this artist had set up shop underneath the sign advertising Obama socks right outside the Red Light Clothing Exchange.

When I travel, I don't buy very many souvenirs.  The photos I take serve that purpose.  Looking at the photo above takes me back to that very moment--the warm late afternoon in downtown Portland, the sound of traffic, the record store I where I had just bought Damien Jurado's new album, how I chuckled to myself when I read that sign and tried to imagine what Obama socks might look like, wondering what that guy was drawing and why he chose that spot.  All that is pretty much encapsulated in one image for me.  This is why I love photography so much.