Project 365 d-139

     Tonight was good example of things not going as planned. After an exhausting day and all daylight gone; I decided to head back into the city for an image. Simply, I just wanted to go to sleep and not take another photograph for this project much less anything else. Still, that nagging little voice inside said, "Get up and go and do it now!" Up and out the door with my gear I went looking from side to side as I went hoping that a subject would quickly present itself. Much to my dismay, nothing was coming easily, and as I drove I began to mutter. I was feeling angry that this was taking me from my comfortable home. Taking me from my wife and my children. All for who knows what. The darkness of night was not just outside, but it was inside the car too. Not evil, but just a tired and hopeless feeling that would not go away. Even rolling down the windows would not chase it away. I turned up the radio and resolved to bring another image into the world before midnight.

     Soon I was in the city limits, and searching for a place to photograph. Downtown there is a high parking garage with decent views of parts of the city. Up the many flights of stairs I went quite sure that the woman in the parking garage who saw me thought I was a terrorist. Still, on I went to the top to set up my tripod and stare once again through the viewfinder at the world. Today's subject is the first thing that I photographed, but I didn't think it was anything special upon first viewing it. Setting my tripod as close to the edge as possible; I began taking long exposures of an old library under a street light while cars passed by. Traffic was sparse so I moved to the other side of the building where traffic seemed heavier. Indeed, there were many vehicles of all types cruising by that created good material for dragging the shutter. Most of my frames from tonight were of this, and I fully expected to produce today's image from that sequence.

     Upon entering my super secret basement photo lab; I was not satisfied with them. So, I turned back to where I started and was surprised at what I found. This was the first thing that grabbed my attention, and I didn't take it seriously. One might wonder how many times that happens in life when we look for something better. Often we end up right back at the start and wonder why we ever looked elsewhere. Tonight reminded me that I need to be more aware of my instincts as they are often right on the money.

Happy Shooting.