Photo: The Frenchman on Los Angeles Street

I took a picture of him from half a block away. He held some papers out toward me. I went closer and asked if I could take his picture up close. He nodded. When I was done he spoke French to me, telling me he did not speak English. When I spoke in my halting but accurate French he smiled and seemed proud of me. We shook hands and I told him I would see him around. A passerby stopped and said that I had just taken the picture of a legend.