Little Pete, Age 6, Takes The Camera (Photos 4 and 5)

Peter Teachout, Jr. Age 6, "Other People's Toys I & II."

Only a 6-year-old could take pictures like this. These are views of the next-door-neighbor's yard, taken through cracks in the fence. The neighbors have a 2-year-old child. There is quite an interesting story in that house, but I don't feel it's the right time to tell it.

Being a child, and not very tall, Peter only sees his neighbor's yard this way...through cracks in the fence. He is not so interested in the people--what their politics may be, their job, their past, their personal habits--so much as what toys they possess.

The photo has a quality of "surveillance," yet ultimately it is a harmless sort of surveillance. The image is an expression of the thinly-hidden fascination we all have about the doings of our closest neighbors which is--for most people, most of the time--innocent albeit a bit self-interested.

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