"Canned ham not half-baked"

"Tuesday afternoon:

That's him, idling on the downtown Akron sidewalk, reading a flier on the door of the Lime Spider. The one in the jeans and the bright blue ski jacket, with a guitar player's haircut. The one with the green Rubbermaid garbage can strapped to his back.

Crazy Kent. He sees me coming and flashes an affable wave.

A passing letter carrier gives him a long glance, looking at the masking-tape letters on the side of the can: ``CrazyKent.com''

Kent Seaver, 21, citizen of the world by way of Springfield Township, leads the way to his base of operations, a battered gold 1996 Volkswagen Jetta. He pulls his tripod and digital camera from the back seat, checks his time on the parking meter and turns to scout a location in the frigid cityscape.

Indecision has little place in his field of work. He chooses this very intersection to begin: University and Main. He watches the traffic light, timing his move. It changes, and Seaver dashes into the street, drops his garbage can on the yellow center line, yanks out the legs of the tripod and squats to peer through the viewfinder. He quickly adjusts the can, rechecks the framing, then returns to the can.

The light is still red. He steps in with his left leg, then grabs the right leg by the ankle, straining it over the lip of the can. He quickly squeezes into a crouch and props the lid so only his face shows. He grimaces wide-eyed into the camera, waiting, waiting. The camera clicks. The light changes. He jumps out, grabs the can, grabs the tripod, and scurries to the sidewalk.

``This is such a calm city compared to others,'' he observes, already walking northward up the sidewalk, looking.

This picture will join hundreds of others on his Web site, www.crazykent.com. It will look like all the others: Seaver's face peeking out from under a trash can lid. Only the backgrounds change. He has taken these pictures in Houston, Los Angeles, Niagara Falls, Boston -- more than 70 cities in 34 states and Canadian provinces. Usually, he takes the pictures himself with a timer. Sometimes he has his brother or a friend as a photographer..." Read full story