The sounds of Madison on a rainy Monday afternoon can change by the minute, in one instant a car horn blares alerting the cyclist to move over but overpowering the horn can be a siren of an ambulance rushing to a nearby hospital. I am one to take in all the sounds and smells that the isthmus has to offer, but recently my health took a turn in a negative direction; not only did I lose my sense of smell with more then likely a sinus infection, but my 75% of my hearing due to an ear infection. Neither of these are things I wish upon anyone because really, life is very boring when you can't smell/hear things.
Monday my friend Dan came out from Milwaukee to hang out for a few hours, when we left to head into the city a steady heavy rain was falling (to which we weren't going to deter us from hanging out). A quick change from my work cloths and a new battery in my camera we were ready to depart in the April shower. As we walked down State Street catching up on one another's lives we heard someone warming up on a trumpet somewhere near our location. This peeked my ears attention, which at this point I had not a clue were muted with an infection. I reached into my wallet to bring out all the change that I could: 2 quarters, 1 dime, 2 nickels, and 3 pennies. This was very uncustomary of me not to have something in paper form in case the opportunity arose to shoot a stranger, with my change in hand I walked over to the open case and dropped my donation within. The trumpeter acknowledged me with a smile and a nod, I felt a feeling of respect between he and I so I asked if I could take his photo. He took a moment to lift his lips from the trumpet, to say "go right ahead" and went right back to playing.
I quickly checked my settings, to make sure that I was set up for street portrait in overcast light and then stuck my eye solid to the viewfinder. A quick on the go composition was in the works, first clicking off three frames focusing on his fingers. The instrument slightly blurred, and the position of skin on metal came into view. As I adjusted my focus I realized what stunning eyes he had, the stone cold look definitely showed the dedication to his art. So I turned my photographic focus to his eyes and the stare ingrained in my mind. His hands flurried the keys, I fired off a quick burst of 5 more frames and smiled him and thanked him for his time. Walking away I knew that I was done taking photos for the rainy Monday, the sights and sounds from a single man playing a trumpet were more than enough to keep me satisfied. I held back from deleting any of the photographs in camera (which was a challenge in itself), and now share the "rejects" from the shoot with you.
Happy snaps until next time,
local paparazzi
No comments:
Post a Comment