Today's blogging tunes are courtesy of Bloc Party. They're playing Philly tomorrow night, but the show sold out and I didn't get a ticket in advance because I thought I was going to be having out-of-town visitors. Oh well..such is life.
So, I had a moment yesterday - a photographic moment, and as it was occurring I thought to myself "Remember this chain of events - it will be great for the blog." So, here it goes.
I'm standing in my kitchen around 6:00 pm making dinner. The kitchen faces my backyard - and there's a sliding glass door that opens onto our deck. My youngest daughter Lila is already asleep upstairs, but my oldest, Mia, is hangin' out with me, asking to go outside and play. "Sorry sweetie, but I'm making dinner and it's almost ready - maybe tomorrow." While dinner is finishing up, I see that the door from our deck to the yard below is open, so I go outside to put the latch on, and I turn to my left and I see it. A picture-perfect moment in a neighbor's yard. The sky is just that right kind of overcast and the subtle light from the sun is coming through just perfectly. I think to myself immediately: ok, I need to shoot this in color - not good in B/W. Plastic camera or Nikon? Plastic Camera - the shot will be great for the series if it turns out. Ok, where IS my plastic camera? Upstairs - damn, no film in it. Do I have any color film for it?" I run upstairs - I have some old, expired 100 film. DAMN - 400 would be much better right now, but I'll take what I can get. Mia's downstairs playing - so she's good for a moment. MIA - GET YOUR SHOES ON, WE'RE GOING OUTSIDE FOR A FEW MINUTES! But I thought you said...? Don't worry about that- just get your shoes on! I load the film, thinking to myself, I hope the light doesn't die - I've got like 10 minutes to get this or it's over. Expired film - could be a problem, hopefully the colors haven't faded. We'll see I guess. I run downstairs, and check to make sure the baby monitor is on and the volume turned up. Then, we go outside. I begin shooting, Mia is behind me singing at the top of her lungs. Well, it's really more like yelling - why can't she SING now instead? She has a beautiful voice (like her Mother), and singing would keep me focused, where her yelling is distracting. Calm down Mia - relax. "Sorry Dad," she says and I smile at her. She runs around - but miraculously stays behind the camera - she doesn't even try to get in the shot. Very unusual for her - she must know something's up. I shoot the whole roll - various angles, perspectives. I take a breath once it's done - and turn to Mia and say, "Let's go eat sweetheart." "Ok Dad," she says, and she skips up the stairs, takes her shoes off, and I shift my focus to getting dinner on the table.
Such was yesterday evening. I'll keep everyone posted on how it all turns out! Happy weekend!
-Marc
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