Another picture from this weekend

The story behind this picture:
Saturday morning, we headed over to the local cafe in Chappell Hill for breakfast. Our table was in one corner of the small diner and I had my back to the room, but there was a frame with glass on the wall, so I could see the reflection of the room very clearly. On the complete opposite corner of the room, I saw an older gentleman drinking his coffee. I mentioned to my friends that I'd love to take his picture, but just as a passing comment. Through their encouragement and pushing, we ended up asking the waitress to ask the other waitress to ask him if we could take a picture of him. He obliged and I asked him to sit back down at the same table.
I really liked his rough look and that he completely represents small town people in his appearance and demeanor. I wasn't using my own camera and using a Nikon at that (that's a whole other story) and he was already on his way out when we stopped him, so I only took about a minute to take his picture. I wish I had more time and my camera and variety of lenses, but that's the beauty of just catching an image 'in the moment.' And I think it's great that he was sitting in front of a Coca Cola sign, which is an icon of small towns, almost a snapshot of the past. There's a sense of simplicity and comfort in this image.
So, I introduce you to 'Walter.'

(This post was written with the help of Amy Littlepage because I'm soooo not a writer and I had a hard time putting my thoughts about this scene into words that would make sense and possibly create the same feeling of nostalgia in others.)