Lake Cushman

hen the sun comes out after a long grey rainy winter, those are the happiest days of them all.

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I take forever to set up a photo when I am shooting on film.

To wait for the perfect light and clouds is my pleasure. To not have people wait on me while I fuddle is also my pleasure.
A natural law radiates from old cameras on tripods, people naturally assemble, ticking off time towards an inevitable moment of capture before relaxing into their true experience. Whatever magic anyone intentionally brings to a portrait begins to leak out from this moment of camera-awareness like water through a target can.

I suggest this to my friends:

At some point today, when we are who we want to be, let's take a group photo together! We can do it however we want, and we can all have it for ourselves forever, I'll print it out!

When the time came, here is what we got. I did indeed print the top one and tried to get it to everyone, but I don't know if I succeeded. That was the last time I saw several of these friends. The day just had that special feeling, that it would live on for a long time as a beacon of joy, as an essence to live for.

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I had to warm up the shutter of course before the big portrait session.

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