This is an Eastern Cicada Killer wasp, and they are generally safe to be around because they don't bother people unless actively grabbed, stepped-on, or swatted. They are solitary wasps (even though several can nest in the same general area), which means they do not have a single shared nest to defend the way honey bees or hornets do, for example. They are only motivated to sting if threatened directly, and even then, it would have to be pretty blatant (like grabbing one) to get it to try stinging. The males, which is probably the one in your photo, cannot sting and only perch and dart about looking for females as mates or other males as rivals to chase off. They might fly up to a person to investigate, but they won't hurt them.

Maryland Biodiversity Project, a non-profit organization that collects data on all life forms found in Maryland, shows that Cicada Killer adults are most active in July (they tend to peak late in the month), and continue into August. They are more rare outside of these times, and they only have one generation per year, so adults that follow this generation will emerge next summer. The MBP data is from across the state, so in local areas the window of time they are active won't last that entire time, and it will only be a period of a few weeks around midsummer that your area will see their activity.

Miri