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D. Randall Blythe
@drandallblythe

381,952 followers

“Pop Pop” 8.10.2023 Asbury Park, NJ ••••• I needed to see the ocean, so I went for a stroll on the rainy boardwalk in Asbury Park yesterday, one of my favorite beach towns to visit on tour. The waves were flat, so my friends & I were just hanging out, talking, eating, & doing a little street photography when I spotted this fantastic looking gentleman. I snuck a few candids, shooting from the hip, then he stopped in the door of the old Convention Hall. My buddies asked him how he was doing. “I’m tired,” he said. “Why are you tired today?” I asked. “Well, when you get to be 83, everything falls apart. I’ve got diabetes, my knees are a wreck, all sorts of things hurt,” he replied. “Where are you from?” we asked him. “Lancaster,” he replied. “Ah, the Amish country,” I said. We talked a little bit about his life & what he did for work before retirement, then I asked him if I could take his portrait. “I don’t see why not,” he said. I shot 3 or 4 frames very quickly, then he looked around and said “I don’t know where my grandkids ran off to. They’ll find me eventually, I’m sure. That’s why they bought me this t-shirt with my name on it, I guess.” Right then his family appeared, & we said goodbye & kept on walking. Old people are the most beautiful looking humans on earth. Youth may be “pretty”, but it is a fleeting & unearned thing. True beauty shows itself in the wrinkled, lined face of a life well lived, still slowly moving forward, even with all of its attendant aches & pains— remember this. Thank you for talking to us, Pop Pop- I hope you got some good rest last night. ••••• #Leica #LeicaCamera #LeicaCameraUSA #LeicaM #LeicaM11 #LeicaM11Monochrom #🔴📷 #Superelmar18mm #LeicaCraft #MadeInWetzlar #drandallblythe #RatsEyesPhotography #HoneTheAesthetic