Since entering journalism school some years ago and acquiring a manual, non-digital camera, one of my favourite things to do is walk around and take pictures. Whether it is a bustling downtown core or my own neighborhood, I love walking for hours and capturing those moments of life we might otherwise overlook. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to do this in Kingston and I was right. It is not really safe and many people seem to take offense at a “foreigner” taking their picture (although many don’t, I must say). So I have yet to take a camera down to the madness that is HalfWay Tree or downtown, especially the street of clothes on Princess Street, where vendors have obliterated the overhead skyline by stringing clothes above the roadway, from one store to another like a laundry line. The colors, the life, the millions of exchanges are beautiful madness. Perhaps one day I will gather the courage or find a suitable person to accompany me. For now, I must be satisfied with using my iPhone from the car window, which takes surprisingly good pictures. Here is HalfWay Tree about mid-day. It really never settles down there, the characters just change, from the people selling clothes and books and food, to the “loaders” putting people on coasters, to the young men selling drugs or soliciting gold, to the people passing through. The only hours I have not witnessed what it is like there is from about 2am to 4:30am. I imagine it is quieter then, but some transactions must still occur, probably more of the illegal kind.
Jamaican Journal 