Side projects

I covered a road race on Saturday called 8 Tuff Miles and it's exactly that: an uphill race that criss-crosses through the island of St. John.

Fast forward two days.

I'm sitting in a bar with three random guys I picked up because they were hitch-hiking on the side of the road. We're sharing a bucket of beers when the bartender asked me if I got any good pictures of him. I had no idea what he meant but then he said he saw me snapping away photos as people crossed the finish line over the weekend and he remembered me.

"It's a small island, bro," he said.

We had a few more drinks, I watched a pair of sweaty spring breakers give lap dances to random guys on the dance floor, and then called it a night. I told the bartender I would search through the photos and I would email him if any came up.

Sure enough, I did snap some pictures of him so I emailed them away.

"Wow, you're not going to charge him?" the staff photographer asked me.

The thought never crossed my mind. In his email reply, the bartender told me to come back to his bar for free drinks.

Should I start taking pictures on the side and charging these island folk? Should I accept free drinks? Man, I hope my boss never catches wind of this blog.