Saturday, December 26, 2020

The things we see in wintry parking lots

Blowing in the wind
London, ON
December 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Photography happens in the strangest of places, in the strangest of ways. But only if we're open to the possibility.

Exhibit A: Christmas Day, 12:29 p.m. I'm in a snowy parking lot on the western edge of town, where I've come to pick up lunch for the fam. We are, of course, following the time-honored Jewish tradition of picking up Chinese food on Christmas Day. Because nothing says Jewish like Chinese food. (And cue the judgy emails in 3, 2, 1...)

Setting aside the whole kosher thing for a bit, I focus on the task at hand. Which involves taking a photo amid a seriously intense lake effect storm. I magically had my camera with me, because part of me hoped the forest across from the resto would offer up something worth shooting.

I also wanted to try out the similarly time-worn photographer's trick of shooting through an open car window to minimize the potential of getting rain or snow on the lens. I'm strange that way.

Thankfully, the weather cooperated, and I liked what I saw enough to strategically park the car and grab a few million pixels.

I shot 11 frames over a 2-minute span - all the same variation of the photo you see here - then buttoned everything up and headed back to grab lunch and head home. I rather like the composition, the tone, and the flecks of snow, frozen in space above the top of the snow-covered rushes.

But beyond the visuals, I rather like how it makes me feel, how it reminds me of a smallish moment in the history of our family. A moment where all was right within our little world despite the storm brewing just outside.

Trivial? Of course. But I'm slowly learning that not everything needs to be monumental or eventful. And when you add up all the little moments like this one, you end up with a pretty substantial pile of triviality.

Which, on reflection, isn't so trivial at all.

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