While wandering through Les Baux-de-Provence a few years ago I came across this gentleman. He sat perfectly still and seemed interested in what I was doing. Some animals have an intelligence you see in their eyes and actions. I got that sense from this soul as he continued to watch me. You could almost see him think. These are the beings we call animals. I wish there was a better word.
This was taken on a hot day in Barcelona last summer. I had just arrived from hot Florida and went out walking. It was so hot I had to pause in the shade. As I did, I noticed others doing the same thing. In fact, it seemed like everyone was doing the same thing, going from one patch of shade to the next. Maybe I should have just stayed inside with the nice air-conditioning, but that’s what I do at home in Florida. Here I was in photo safari mode and the coast of Spain was my savanna. As I took this, I was sitting across from a little restaurant on the pier. I was thinking it seemed odd that the main food on the menu was cheeseburgers and hot dogs; so much for European cuisine. But they had air-conditioning, so I seriously thought about going inside. Then my hunter instincts kicked in again and I moved on.
This ugly crane sits in the water not far from home near the bridge. Seems it been there for EVER. The last thing I thought I’d want to do is take a picture of it. However, symmetry from reflections occur all around us and can form the seeds of compositions using the most unlikely subjects. I took about a dozen photos of the crane over the course of five minutes. This was the first image, but as the minutes ticked on, the breeze started, and the water began to ripple. By the last frame, the clarity of the reflection was lost. If there is a moral to the story it would be to keep your eyes open because you never know when the conditions will be just right for a particular subject, even an old ugly crane.
