I was walking on the beach in placencia , Belize, a few months ago, making photos of other gringos and of the Sargassum buildup, when a short, slender guy in his mid eighties accosted me, pointed to my camera, and said “I bet you don’t even know how to use that thing.” Thinking he was clumsily trying to start a conversation, I began to introduce myself, tell about my work on the photo staff of a metro daily, when the little man cut me off and said his name was Danny Lyon, and did I not know his work? Of course any photojournalist knows Lyon’s work covering Civil rights actions in the 1960’s and subsequent documentation of prisons and an outlaw motorcycle group, but I was not about to reward his rudeness with flattery, so i said sure i know your deservedly well-regarded work, then he began to brag about his website, so I said good, you might also look at my website, whereupon he wheeled about and marched up the beach, making dismissive gestures with his hands. Anyway, it was kind of sad that this well known photojournalist had aged into a bitter and aggressive old dude ready to assault and challenge any complete stranger carrying an SLR.
i did not photograph the little man. But here is a picture of a much larger and younger Gringo in placencia, outside the hotel where little Danny was apparently staying.