2 August 1996

Insecure Documentation

A security guard in an art museum told me I couldn't photograph Andy Goldsworthy's pile of slate. "Even if I don't use a flash?" I asked. (I smiled as I pressed the shutter release.)

"Even if you don't use a flash," she admonished.

I'm grateful to the confused guard: she turned a forgettable image into a memorable one. It's like Mark Twain's watermelon: "the sweetest one I ever had was stolen."