Soup of colors and light

Always looking, always searching.  The light, a motion, what's going to happen next. I just missed it, wait for it.  Always be ready.  Move that light, change the background, turn this way.The things that go through your head as a photographer when you're working, coming up with ideas, posing people, shooting a concert, street photography.  Then it happens.

It was a window behind the bartender at a photography show.  I have to admit, I was a little envious of the exhibiting photographers for their art/editorial careers.  I admired a few of them from what I'd see on on their website and in print; the fresh eye and the spontaneity you never want to lose.  It had been a stressful day.  Was I just continuing the torture by looking at someone else's work?  I mentioned this to Kate on the crosswalk heading into the gallery.

The window, I didn't see it at first.  We walked in, I got a beer.  The gallery was crowded with lots of people we didn't know.  Looking at the work and thinking, probably a little too much.  Stressful day.  My batteries were recharging, I was just on standby.  Always looking.  It happens quickly.  Not always successful, but you keep trying, practicing.

It's almost like a clearing in the forest.  Suddenly there's the sky and you have perspective.  Or a reflex, maybe more like a reflex.  Fight or flight.   This time, it didn't even look real.  The frosted window behind the bartender.  Blond hair in a bun, butterscotch coat.  She kept moving.  Don't go, reaching for a camera.  

I like the idea of an iPhone as a camera.  It's a crapshoot.  Depending on the light levels, it can paint.  I could have shot that window all night.  If she walked away, would the moment end?  After a while I became aware of the guy tending bar.  A minute ago, I dove into his area and made it my studio.  He was very cool about it and I thanked him leaving.  I left her in the window, not wanting to be greedy.

When something like that happens, the zone you get in  makes all the stress and the searching worth it.  It all disappears into a lovely soup of colors and light.