“I’d avoid that place if I were you,” he said.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“The people there are desperate. You’ll get jumped and they’ll steal your fancy equipment.”
I live in Tampa Bay, not far from Saint Petersburg. It boasts of a magnificent bridge that spans the bay called the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It is the second version, constructed in 1987. The original bridge had been damaged in an accident, so its central suspension section was removed, and the two remaining structures were converted into two piers. Today, they’re collectively known as the Skyway Fishing Pier State Park.
Today, for the modest fee of $12, anyone can drive onto the pier, park, cast a rod over the edge, and fish. Day or night, while crossing the Sunshine Skyway bridge, it’s fun to gaze over to both piers and see the fishermen haul in their catch. For years, I’ve wanted. to go there, geared up with still and video cameras, and capture the place. Our local photo club once charted an evening cruise to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge itself. But they’ve never taken a group to these piers.
I raised this with our local photography club and asked if anyone would like to accompany me. Sad to say, more than one photographer responded like the man I quoted earlier.
No takers.
Did I heed the warnings? Nope. When my friend Matt Temple came down from Boston, this was the place I suggested we go. He’d been on expeditions with me before, so he joined up immediately.
I didn’t have the slightest fear that I was embarking on some perilous trek into enemy territory. More than 10 years ago, while I was photographing the bodegas of inner city Boston, I’d learned not to fear. There wasn’t a high likelihood that I’d get mugged, even with my expensive-looking Canon 60D DSLR camera on its imposing tripod. Such fears are helped along by the American media, mostly directed against working-class and minority people. I didn’t believe they were that resentful and dangerous.
So what happened this time? Who did I meet on the piers of St. Petersburg? Many people, young men mostly, more interested in why I was there with a camera rather than stealing it from me. And tell me, where’s your fishing rod? They gleefully mugged for our cameras. They turned out to be downright friendly.
But I wanted an interview.
I found it with a shark fisherman. He showed me his cellphone videos of sharks he’d caught – mostly on a catch-and-release basis – from only a few hundred yards out.
This time it was me that he hooked.
He told me how he caught these imposing sea beasts from shore. Not at all shy, he readily consented to the video interview you see below.
