Day Thirty: Visitor Provides Photo Op

Day thirty and it was about 72 degrees in Chaumont, NY. That's terrific for this region on April First.


Well, my day was pretty much under control until late afternoon I discover a message on my answering machine. It was from an old friend whom I have not seen in quite a few years. It was Shotgun Billy Read from Nashville, Tennesee. A terrific guy, song writer and technology rep for numerous corporations. For whatever reason I missed him until late this afternoon. He returns to Nashville tomorrow. Anyway, we got together had some chinese food and caught up with each other. Then we had a beer at the Padddock Club in Watertown, NY. (I know, Lent isn't over, I had an alcohol free beer, a Labatt Nordic. I don't think that's cheating). Without going into all of the details, I had to drop Bill off at the Mercy Medical Center in Watertown where he was to meet up with his wife. So it's about 8:25pm, there's still some light in the sky. As he is getting out of my car I notice the Mercy building sillohetted against the sky with this window lit up. The graphic quality of the scene told me "Take My picture, take my picture." So I took the picture. I showed the image to Bill on the camera's screen. He was impressed and surprised. I find that happens with a lot of people who are with me, standing right next to me as I snap a photo. They have no clue what I am seeing until I show it too them.
For me it's a simple, visual delight. The world is beautiful wherever we turn our eyes. What you have in this photo are four elements: The tree, building, sky, and window. At a certain time of day they come together and this is what it looks like.

If Shotgun hadn't called me then I would never have seen or taken this picture. It also reminds me of something else. In my early days with photography I would drive all over, walk all over, searching for an interesting photo. Very often coming up empty. Now I don't go searching for photos. I have learned to keep an eye to my surroundings and be ready with a camera when a photo appears befor me.

Assignment photography is another animal. I am paid to be somewhere and make photos that satisfy a clients requirements. Some of those situations can be visually barren. What I do then is just start shooting, trying various angles, lenses, lighting and whatever. In those situations there is always a photo, but it's more a process of extracting it from what I have to work with rather than have it jump out at me. Or so it seems to me. Gary