Plenty of stars have come out of Rochester but what about all the bit characters.

That's my dollar bill in Lawrence's hand. On nice days he sits out in front of his house on Main Street under an umbrella waving to all that pass. He sells peanuts for a dollar a bag and offers roasted or boiled. I've had boiled in Georgia and they're too weird - all soggy and bloated. I bought the roasted. Lawrence takes care of the neighborhood. He was in the middle of lunch when I stopped by. Those are two red hots in his right hand.

Taking pictures of people you don't know can be tricky. I hold the camera at my waist and make sure the flash isn't on. I'm getting pretty good at pointing without looking. It's kind of like "miraculous fishing" ("pesca milagrosa" in Spanish), a traditional children's game. Kids reach into a barrel with a hook or their bare hands to pull out surprises. Today, Colombian gangs set up road blocks and look for people to rob and they call that "miraculous fishing." My digital (George Eastman rolls over) camera lets me preview the shot and if I miss the subject entirely I just dump it. I've had many happy accidents with this approach.

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This woman comes down our street almost everyday. I say Hi and she smiles. She works her way down to Tops and then back up near the Public Market with all this stuff.

About a block down the road on Culver I stopped to talk to these two kids. They planned on making some money this summer and then the rain stopped and the lawns quit growing. They were doing their best to look like a couple of cool dudes here.

I swear this Wegmans "Helping Hands" guy used to work down the street at Tops.