Experimentation

What's life without a little experimentation, eh? Originally, we had a shoot planned for today. Although I sometimes didn't like how the model had behaved, she did have the look for something I wanted to try out very badly. I had been looking forward to this simply because of the shape of her cheekbones. Strange, I know. I often pay my clients strange compliments of this nature, like "You have the most lovely eyebrows." I'm a makeup artist. I often need to focus on a small part of a person's face for longer periods of time. You begin to appreciate the small intricacies of what makes an individual unique. Anyway, I digress.

The model in question has taken ill (most likely with the same thing I had several weeks ago when we originally had to reschedule the shoot) so I was convinced to do an experiment of a different kind. Today, I was handed an old Bronica medium format camera, and a light meter. After an explanation of f-stops and shutter speed, I was turned loose in a historic old graveyard. At first I was hesitant. When asked why I wasn't shooting, I replied "I don't... really see anything. There's nothing terribly interesting here." This earned me a disappointed frown from my would-be teacher.

I pocketed the light meter, hefted the Bronica in my left hand and went to have a closer look at things. I did in fact find several things to take photos of. Whether they are in focus, or completely under/over-exposed is another matter entirely.

Important lesson for today? Look more closely at everything before making any judgment. And learn to be flexible.