Fall

Right when the weather changed from kind of unbearable heat to a nice fall breeze was my favorite time on campus. The trees were just starting to change from bright green to shades of yellow, orange, and red. It was also the time where the college felt more alive. There were actually people outside on the green knolls around the quad instead of cooped up in their rooms or hidden away in the student building. And since I had scored a job working for the school to update the photos on their website and print materials it was a great time to get some shots, no one wants to come to a school where no one is out and about.

The Dean said that he wanted ‘friendly’ photos, photos of students enjoying themselves, so it looked more appealing because apparently student life is huge deciding factor. I didn’t really care, I’m sure he’d find something he liked in the all the photos I’ve been taking since I scored this job two weeks ago.

Sometimes you just get a feeling that a shot is going to be good and you don’t have time to ask permission first without ruining the whole scene. I quickly snapped the picture of a guy, probably a year ahead of me, sitting on a bench under one of the huge apple trees on campus. He was focused on his book, small and tanned. English major, probably. I took a quick peek at the photo and decided that I was worth getting this guy’s permission because I really liked it and was hoping the Dean would, too.

I always hated this part, most of the time people were okay with it as long as I let them see the photo and sent it to them after, which was no issue. However, I had gotten some really nasty responses in the past.

“Um, hey, excuse me.”

The guy removes his earbuds with his tattooed fingers, something I hadn’t noticed until now. “Uh, hey man. What’s up?”

“This is probably going to be really awkward,” I start as he smiles with a hint of amusement. “but my name is Alan and I’m photography student here.”

“Go on.”

“Um, Dean Adams wants me to take new shots for the school’s promotional items like the website and brochures.” He nods so I keep going. “And I actually took a sneaky picture of you like a minute ago and I think it looks really good so I want to submit it to the Dean, but I kind of need your autograph on one of these forms of consent.”

He stares at me for a minute, his look of amusement forming into one of slight confusion. Here we go he’s going to tell me to fuck off. “You took a picture of me?”

“Uh yeah.” I sigh. “I know it’s kind of creepy but to get the kind of candid shots he wants I need to be sneaky. I can show you the picture if you want and if you hate it I can delete it.” I extend my camera to him and watch while holding my breath as he takes the most expensive thing I own into his hands and squints at the screen.

“This is nice.” He tells me after a couple of seconds of looking at it. “I mean I know nothing about photography but I don’t look like a total dick so I guess I’ll sign your paper.” He extends my camera back to me and I grab it quickly and securely place it on the bench next to him after turning it off.

“Really?”

“Yeah I mean why not?”

“Thanks…?”

“Austin.” He smiles.

“Thanks Austin.” I move my backpack to where I can easily see its contents before unzipping and pulling on the red folder and pulling out a consent form.

“This isn’t like a form to where if I sign it they can sell my picture to escort services in Taiwan is it?” He asks as he looks at the form.

“As far as I know, no.” I laugh. “Just a form saying that you know that I took your photo and you’re allowing the school to use it in their promotional materials.”

“Awesome.” I watch as he scribbles his name on the line and writes in print next to it. “Here you go.”

“Thanks again, Austin.” I take the paper and put it back into the folder. “I’ll see you around?”

“I’m sure.”