Balloon seller

Date: Easter Day, 1974
Place: Battersea Park, London
Modus operandi: Enjoying the Easter Parade
Weather: Lovely
Time: 2 pm
Gear: Leica M3, 35mm Summaron
Medium: Kodak TriX/D76
Me: Glad the balloons were helium filled
My age: 23

The Easter Parade at Battersea Park, then a fun, working class area in London (now doubtless replete with overpriced, cardboard condominiums), was always a good source of street snaps. This macho-attired balloon seller gave me a mouthful of the best four letter words seconds later but, then again, what could he do? Give chase and lose his balloons? Anyway, with the 35mm lens I was pretty close, it’s true, and this was one of those rare occasions where I simply stuck the camera in an unsuspecting stranger’s face.

I have always enjoyed the comic contrast between the seller’s attire and his product offering, and hope you like it too; God help anyone trying to sell balloons decorated with golliwogs today in our uptight, bigoted world.