My shoe hits the sidewalk as I jump out the van door. I grip my camera close to my hip and glance down the busy, colourful street. A myriad of overwelming thoughts come whirring through my head. Only 35 shots. Make each one of them count. Less than two hours to work in. Think outside the box. Something unique. Something with a story. Something red. With nothing to loose, my new found partner and I set out and found a cute, much quieter looking street.
Ten minutes and seven medeocre shots later found me leaning over someone's fence and boldly capturing a lonely rose. The lady of the house stepped out onto her front porch and smiled at us. She greeted us most kindly and walked past us to her car. Her shoe grabbed my photographer eye, but for a moment I hesitated. Then throwing caution to the wind I jumped up after her and asked if I could borrow her shoe for a moment. Obviously thrilled and amused at my interest in her fine footwear, Barbara removed her shoes and stood in the middle of her driveway laughing at us while I carefully staged the subjects.
"Do you have a couple extra minutes?" she asked smirking broadly.
"Of course!" I replied, and she immidiately dissapeared into her house. Moments later she immerged laden with a large, very full bag of awesome, unique, and totally funky shoes.
"Have a hay day!" she bubbled most excitedly as she laid them all out.
My partner and I exchaned glances and grinned excitedly. We'd found it! Something unique. Something worth capturing. Something with a story. We dove right into this new found treasure trove of perfectly unique subjects and captured away.
Lesson learned: Not only is it important to be in the right place at the right time, you can't be afraid to ask when you see a picture worth catching.
-IPS Student Merissa Korsholm
Picture of the Day by Aryn Sturgeon
Red Contest Winner by Ashley Millington
Signage Contest Winner by Hannah Lefchick
