I’ll respond to yesterday’s comments when I’m done writing this post. I had a busy day yesterday and I was too tired at the end of it to do anything other than plop on the sofa.

Don wanted to go ‘on location’ to shoot some photos, which means to the town just north of us. I had plans to mow, so we split the difference. The morning for photography, the afternoon for mowing. We found a neat place to set up, right in front of a favorite local bookshop, Inquiring Minds.

As amazing as this sounds, right after we got there, a young guy walked by and stopped to talk to Don. He has the same vintage camera.  He even offered some tips. Such a small world! The camera definitely attracts people and Don loves nothing more than to meet people and chat with them. A woman and her daughter walked by and the daughter was raving about the camera. Turns out her grandfather had one and he was a well-known photographer who concentrated on jazz singers – among them, Billie Holiday. All of this happened in the first 15 minutes we were there, as Don was assembling the camera. In a small town.

I thought you’d like to see this little sidewalk garden in front of the shop.

Isn’t it adorable?

Don has been working with this camera for a mere four days. He studies hard. There’s a steep learning curve because it’s vintage, entirely manual, and it’s heavy. But each day he has improved. Lighting, framing the shot, aperture settings – all of it is new to him. The whole idea of this kind of street photography is that the photographer has one shot. Period. It’s a polaroid, the film is expensive and so, one chance to get it right, to capture that one moment in time.

But, of course, when you’re first starting out you have to experiment a whole lot before you can offer your services.

I’ve been his model all week long because I live with him. It’s been fun. (And I’ve been playing with my new camera as well.)

Here are yesterday’s winning shots:

That red brick wall is the perfect backdrop!

Then I took my turn:

I don’t mind saying I have a crush on this incredibly cool guy.

This has become a real passion for him and the perfect thing to help him through the transition from doing Escape to Margaritaville  in New York City to suddenly being back home. I’m so proud of him.

Afterwards, we walked across the street to our favorite vegan restaurant and had a bite to eat.

Such a pretty bouquet on our table!

Then back home to mow the corral and the entire front lawn.  Yikes. I was bushed!

I love my new camera and I have much to learn about it. But so far, it’s a winner.

Happy Friday.