Kate and I are doing a story for Voice of America about how the recession is affecting people's eating habits. Yesterday, Lucy (our intern) and I went to the McDonalds at 14th and U to film some vox pops. I brought a small consumer grade camcorder and shot some interiors of the McDonalds. The last time I tried to shoot inside of a McDonalds, I brought the larger camera and was promptly kicked out. But while I was getting kicked out, I set the camera down on the counter and hit record. I was able to get a great shot of people ordering and receiving their food while I stalled the manager with pointless questions. Yesterday I had it much easier. No one seemed to care that I was shooting in the restaurant and I was able to get all of the shots I wanted.

The vox pops were hilarious. There was a large group of homeless people sitting outside and they all wanted to talk to us. I tried asking one man about McDonalds, but he just wanted to tell me how the soul food restaurant next door was much better. We interviewed many people as they left the restaurant and got them to say exactly what we wanted them to say. We may as well have written them a script. The basic idea was, "yes I know that McDonalds is unhealty, but it's cheap so I have been going there more during the recession."