Behind The shot With Lindsay Brice

One photographer. One image. The story behind the shot.

In the most neglected part of my hometown in southernmost Georgia, I noticed a liquor store with signs posted that read "NO DRUGS" and "NO LOITERING." People were loitering beneath those signs. I wanted to get that shot.

I decided I should go alone in the morning. Anyone who became inebriated at night would be tired, and anyone who preferred the day would not yet be so. I drove there the next morning. People weren't loitering at 8am.

I said hello to two men talking together on the corner. They asked why I was taking photographs. I told them I'd grown up in the town and was living in Los Angeles, and every time I came back, the place had changed. The man on the left said, "That's the truth."

I explained I'd come to photograph the liquor store. He told me the place was not just a liquor store, it was a club. Did one have to be a member to buy liquor? "No," he said. "It's a club." He pointed to an upholstered door. I asked if I could go in.

He escorted me into the club, and day turned to night. The place was hopping. People were seated in booths and on barstools made from car axles as the jukebox played. I heard a pool table in action in a back room.

I introduced myself and asked if I could take photographs. They said that would be fine. I climbed onto a booth for a better vantage with my 28mm lens. It was dark inside, so I had to use a flash. One man began to grumble. I said, "Thank you!" and I left.

I didn't get the photograph I'd come for, but I like the ones I did.

You can follow Lindsays work on foto @lindsaybrice