← Shannon Cason's Homemade
Shannon Cason's Homemade
What TF You Taking Pictures Of?
00:12:33
Expect to be challenged on your creative path.
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- [00:00]
Shannon Casey
Before we start, I've been telling more and more stories on social media, Instagram, TikTok threads. I know I'm a late starter, a late bloomer, but at least I start. So I'm at Shannon Casein on everything. You can also watch me tell this story on YouTube. So make sure you follow me on social media and you subscribe to the YouTube is more and more stories there. I mean, the threads are doing really good too. There's more and more stories TikTok too. More stories on that side. So more and more to come. Okay, Enjoy the show. Welcome to Homemade. I'm Shannon Casey. Earlier this year I went to this really cool conference. It's called Sea Change Sessions. It's hard to say that Sea Change Sessions in Burlington, Vermont. I mean, it was really cool. It's like people from, from everywhere, from these big companies to, to entrepreneurs in. On a private island. For the first day, we did sound yoga. It was an eagle. They landed right next to us on a tree limb. That was my first time seeing like a real ego in. In nature. We're eating outside one of those kind of conferences where everything is just wild. There's people from Space Tech, place making, I mean place making meaning people who design cities. Like there was the designer of Campus Marshes in Detroit there. The person who designs Burning man was packaging. People from Packaging was there too. So it was like they were talking about plastics and getting them out of our environment, if that's even possible. And they're all meeting to share ideas and experiences and I'm there to tell stories. Ronald Young Jr. From the Wait for It podcast invited me and Wait for It is blowing up. Big Ron doing cool things in the podcast field and he always invites me to be a part of the journey with him, so I appreciate him. But we're going to have a storytelling session during the conference and it's complete with comedy, musical performances, gospel music. Okay, so it's the day of our session and the comedian Yasmin El Hadi. And I could tell she was in a funny mood because she was cracking jokes during the rehearsal and everything. But she goes on stage, destroys. Then a musician goes up, plays, sings and destroys, kills. There's an organist playing gospel music, killing. Then I have to go up in the story I chose to tell. Didn't have any laughs. It's a slow moving story. I call it like my jazz story. And I was actually a little scared after Yasmine because she was so funny. I mean, everybody was crying, laughing, laughing hard. And I knew my story was not funny at all. I can tell funny stories, but this one wasn't funny. But the crowd seemed like a smart crowd, an open crowd. And I told my story. And I had them. They were walking right along with me through the scenes in the story. I could see that they were enjoying it, even though there wasn't a sound in the room. And the producer, after the show the next day, told me in their own words. He said, that was masterful. He said, masterful. I remember the word. I like that word. So here's the story I told. It's one of the first stories I ever wrote. It's a classic story. It's one of my first podcasts as well. You can go back and subscribe to my classic episodes, but this story is called My Father's Camera. I hope you enjoy. My father left me his camera. It was in a boxy aluminum case with two latches in the front that locked and two latches on the side that didn't lock. To unlock it, you have to get your fingernail into the little notches of the combination wheel and flick them to seven. Seven. And one more seven. Then get your fingers under the levers and pull. The latches would loosen and you could open it. The side levers, just get your finger under those. No combination. The camera was a Nikon EN90. Pretty nice camera. It was separated in the case by a deep gray foam. The body, the flash. Two lenses, one longer than the other. I didn't know much about photography. Like my dad. I recognize the basic concept, point and shoot. I'm intelligent enough to understand that there's more to it than just that, though people had careers as photographers, so it had to be more to it than just point and shoot. I thought about what I wanted to shoot. The camera had a wide strap that fit comfortable around my neck. I liked the way it wore. I looked authoritative with the strap around my neck and the camera hanging. I looked at myself for a good while in the bathroom mirror. I stood outside the door for a fuller view. It wore well. I thought you got to be creative with this type of camera. I thought you got to be more creative than just smile or cheese. Maybe architecture or nature. Possibly people. But no smiling. I had an idea. I thought, what if I did a series? I thought a good idea would be to shoot everything lying down. There was a guy I saw on tv. He shot everyone naked. Groups and crowds of people naked. He also shot people alone or as a couple. These are just regular, average people. Potbellies and stretch marks. Naked. Crazy shit. If he'd asked me to do it. I probably would have said no then. Know to be a negative for a photo. I thought, what interesting shots could I get lying down? You can join in if you like. I could shoot cloud formations. I could get a little bit of the branches and the leaves from the trees. So the photo will give the impression that I'm lying down. I thought that was boring, but it still had merit. I could shoot a baby mobile as if I'm in a crib and I'm looking up and my parents are smiling. Looking down. I could shoot a woman's face agonizing in pleasure. I could shoot a determined man's face sweating, looking down. I could shoot doctors. I could shoot the underbelly of a car. I could shoot ceilings. I put the camera away and it stayed there in the case for a long time. After a long time, afflict 777 opened the case, put the Y strap around my neck and left my apartment. I went downtown. I took pictures of the buildings and the bridge and the water. I laid down on the concrete in front of a tall statue and I felt silly. Got up, dusted myself off. I got hungry and bored, so I rode the train south. Back home on the train, three boys entered the car from the emergency door while the train was still moving. They stopped in the middle of the train and asked for everyone's attention. Only a few people looked up. Then they started singing. I didn't know the song, probably their own. But it was good. Better than everyone expected. A woman took the earbuds out of her ears. A man dog eared this book. The lady took a five dollar bill from her purse and handed it over to one of them. The man gave them a dollar. I dug in my pockets, but I didn't have any money, just my credit cards. I stood up and asked if I could take their picture. They looked at each other and then got into a pose. One folded his arms, another reached out and pointed at the camera. And the other just looked cool. I took a couple of photos while I balanced myself on the moving train. I told him thanks and they went through the other emergency door. I rode the train, passed my stop at Roosevelt and got off on the 95th street exit, the end of the line and started taking more pictures. A storefront church next door to a liquor store. People walking by and cars passing through. My picture. A Jamaican restaurant. I thought the colors were original. I walked farther. The sun was slowly descending. In a few hours it'd be gone. I walked down the street. Children weren't playing, just standing around. People on the porches sitting and talking. I took more pictures. I asked to take a picture of the kids. Some posed and laughed. I took pictures of the houses and the cars in the street. One of the kids walked over to me. He said, I better stop taking so many pictures. He said it as if he was trying to warn me in a friendly way. I looked down the street at the kids standing around, the people on the porch sitting. I took a picture of them sitting with my father's camera. One of the men got up from the stoop and walked in my direction. He wasn't smiling for my picture. He said, what the fuck you taking pictures of my father's camera? Thanks for listening. Shannon Kazin's Homemade Stories is proud to be supported by the Friends of Homemade. I want to thank everyone who listens, enjoys and supports the stories. To my friend Celeste P. In Chicago, thank you for joining the Patreon. You always support me too Celeste. I appreciate you. My best friends. Austin W in Arcata, California thank you for joining the Patreon. Thanks for the California love. My play cousins is actually one of my cousins. It's my my my cousin's cousin Devin Lindsey, the Black Prospector. Thank you Devin. Follow Devin. Devin is my trainer. Follow him on social media. Connect with him any way you can. His plan has me in my best shape ever. This is the best shape of my life and 2025 will be even better. So thank you Devin for supporting my stories. Homemade is a friend funded podcast. Visit patreon.com ShannonCasen or $sign Shannon Casen on Cash app if you like to go to Direct Route. You can always support the stories that way too. I appreciate you. This episode was produced at home by me, Shannon Casey. Subscribe on YouTube. This story is also available there. You can go to YouTube right now and listen and subscribe. Consider supporting the stories@patreon.com shannoncasing or cash app $sign Shannon Casen be a friend of the story and for more information on working workshops and speaking engagements, go to shannoncasen.com the intro and outro is produced by Echo Finch. Go to echofinch.com to learn more and come back for more and more stories. The classic stories are being reborn and you're gonna hear some brand new stories too. So talk to you soon. Mmm mmm mmm. Now that's Homemade.