Dover-Calais
23 December 2007
18:34
My
trip had just started and I was so excited I had my camera in my hands -programmed
in automatic, of course, ready for the perfect shot. Because of the thick fog I
couldn't even see the trace of the ferry on the water...If there’s nothing to
see outside, look inside, I said to myself trying to keep up the excitement
despite the cold and darkness of the scenery. I was getting quite bored trying
to look through the window, so I looked around and found it: if there’s nothing
to see outside, look inside...so I took my camera and surfed the scene. There
was this guy reading in front of a window containing that boring sea and
automatically, I remembered this article about photography which said one
should ask the subject to be photographed.
Though he looked entertained with the reading, I dared to ask if he
minded taking him a picture. He said he wouldn't, so off I went and took
several shots. I didn't like any of them but he did. He grinned and asked
-Where
are you going?
-I'm
going round Europe during the next 10 days
-By
train?
-Nope.
By bus.
He
told me he was German and I got glad about it because of the nice memories I
have about Germany.
Although
I find the German language quite intelligible, I had listened a thousand stories
about the country, the cities, the people. That is why I felt confident asking.
The stranger was from the South of Germany by the end of the Rhine river.
He
looked like taken out of an 80s movie of Nordic sailors: white to the bone,
blue eyed, earring and red moustache.
After laughing at my face about the number of days I was going to be
locked up in a coach around Europe, he recommended some places I definitely
couldn't recognize. The picture showed the head of a man sitting by the window
with his feet on its frame. While reading, he ate an apple in the same way any
Nordic sailor from an 80s movie would have.
