Grab Shots

Well, I apologize for not posting for eight days, but the last time I did I complained about vapid media stuff, so maybe it's appropriate that if people feel like they don't have anything especially interesting to say then they shouldn't say anything.

But I've been working, and in the course of doing one story I ended up at a reception after an event, and there was a wide patio with a fire pit at the western end of the home where it was held. I was on an upper level at one point, talking with a woman who had a table set up to display a book she'd done about a nearby village and a church that had stood there for a long time. Someone else strolled up and mentioned that someone she had known was buried there. The author recognized the name, paged through the book, and held it out. There it was, a picture of the gravestone, with a little girl standing next to it, tracing the letters of the name with a small pink finger.

It was one of those great photos where there's a tremendous tension; there it was, life and death. The author said she'd been there taking pictures and this little girl just walked up to the gravestone and the moment came together. These things are called "grab shots," because they usually only last long enough for you to get the camera up to your eye and shoot. 

As we were talking, a guy was down below messing with the fire pit, putting on more wood, and the new wood must have been damp, because suddenly the whole lower level was filled with smoke. The guy himself was swathed in smoke like a wizard making a dramatic entrance, and with the light of the setting sun behind him he was silhouetted in this fun, mysterious way. I happened to have my own camera on the table, and I picked it up with one hand, thumbing it on, got it to my eye and shot three frames. And sure enough, a puff of breeze came along, the smoke dissipated, and the moment was gone.

The woman looked at me and grinned, her eyes gleaming avidly. "I like that," she said. "The way the light was on the top of his head." I liked her a lot in that moment. They say hunters have a sense of fraternity when they're out in the field, and I think it was something like that. You train your eye and your reflexes, stay alert, and react when you need to—with a camera if you have one, or if not, at least by noticing and appreciating what you're seeing. It's a nice habit to be in yourself, and I appreciate it in others too. So anyway, hello again! It's breakfast time and I'm hungry so bye for now.