The Payphone Before and After Shot That Got Away

I had a camera on me but my hands were full. The moment passed before I could get coördinated enough to put down 3 shopping bags and draw the camera from my coat pocket.

The missed opportunity involves the gentleman in the photo below, who I caught using a Telebeam payphone about 4 years ago. The payphone was removed in early 2014, as almost every other phone in the area has also vanished.

I thought of this man when the phone went missing, curious if its removal would force him out of the Luddite world and into the cell phone age.

Bearded Man Talking on the Telebeam
Bearded Man Talking on the Telebeam

My answer came last week, when I spotted him again. In what would have made for a perfect “before and after” pair of pictures I spotted him standing on that exact spot in front of where the payphone used to be, and HE WAS TALKING ON A CELL PHONE.

It did not appear that he was standing there as some sort of homage to the phone he had used in the past, or out of habit. He just happened to be on that spot momentarily as he stopped to end his conversation and hang up the phone. The only thing that could have made it more perfect would be if there was a kid walking up behind him with his mouth wide open.

Missed photo opportunities like this are far too frequent. I’ve been gathering pictures of payphones for 20 years (gah!) but have pursued other photo subjects in memory of the one that got away. I once saw a beautiful umbrella buffeted by winds in such a way that it spun like a top on the sidewalk. It spun almost perfectly, with a slight wobble that made it even more sympathetic to me. It’s hard to describe how unexpectedly beautiful a sight this was. It was like ballet.

I had a camera ready but before I could get it on point a woman walking past grabbed the umbrella, folded it up, and stuck it in her granny cart. Curses.

In memory of the umbrella photo that got away I commenced taking as many photos of umbrellas and umbrella carcasses as I could, hoping to one day get a shot that equaled or at least rivaled the one I missed.

Nothing doing. I never even came close.

Before and after images of this man talking on the phone might not have had the surreal beauty of that pirouetting umbrella but it might have illustrated how real people are being forced into the cell phone world as their payphones get taken away, one by precious one.

Click here for more picture of people who still use payphones.



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