The Mystery Man

by Ken Spencer

What’s going on here?

I was walking on the beach in Venice, California, looking for beautiful landscapes. When I walked under the Venice pier, I noticed a man kneeling on the beach. His trowsers were wet and lying next to him on the sand. He was wearing blue boxer shorts and was wet from the waist down. The portion of the skin on his back that I could see between his jacket and shorts was covered with some kind of red sores. He did not move in the 10 minutes that I approached and then walked by him. Other strollers on the beach passed him as well without a glance. There was something about him, however, that held my attention. Did he need help? I decided to take one photo, just because the scene was troubling. I was using a 300mm lens so I shot from a long way off. About the time I was wondering if I should approach him and ask if he was OK, I saw him quickly turn his head in my direction and then just as quickly, turn and look back at the ground. I took that as a sign that he was OK, and so continued on my way. I have no idea what was going on. But I find the image, and the questions, have stayed with me since I took the photograph two weeks ago.