It has been said, by people much wiser than I am, that given the choice of getting a new thing or getting an experience, take the experience. I did that recently, and have pushed myself further along life’s learning curve because of it.
I took much of this summer and did some portfolio development. Most of you won’t care about that, and that’s just fine. While traveling in Italy we stopped at a small bistro in Pisa for dinner. Big surprise? Not at all!
I had a stuffed pizza, which filled my plate. Honestly, I was expecting a small calzone, but this thing was bigger across than I thought it would be. But that’s not the important part. The important part was the opportunity I missed right after ordering.
Our waitress went off duty between taking our order and the food arriving at our table. We were eating at an outside table. Imagine the visual picture: She was in the neighborhood of 20-24 or so, 5’10”, and blonde. Her normal uniform for the restaurant she works at is black pants and a white shirt with an apron. (Even the guys wore this color scheme.) Now she was walking out to her black Honda motorcycle, putting on her black leather riding jacket. She climbed onto the bike, tucked her black helmet under one arm and started texting someone (boyfriend? who cares…) with the other hand. The sun was behind her, back/side-lighting her hair / rim-lighting the bike. I so very much wish that I had my camera out, because that is one of the strongest visual images I had the entire trip that I didn’t photograph. Even if I had the camera out and asked her if I could take the picture, the edge of the seating area would have been in the way. Still, it was a strong image. [Edit: Maybe I’ll sketch that. It’s been a month since then, and it’s still a strong mental image.]
Onward we went, and we came across a gelato place that wasn’t too crowded. The gentleman behind the counter was quite friendly. Having just had one image go by, I was not going to let this opportunity slip by without at least trying to get the portrait. And thus, I got a chance to meet Mr. Lombardi of Gelato Di Pendente. His gracious smile and welcoming demeanor made for a great portrait for him and his shop.
Now, of course, one shot deserves a detail follow-up. That opportunity arose the following day at Venchi, a gelateria in Vicenza. Again, I offered to make a portrait for the owner/operator, but she politely declined. She did, however, allow me to make a detail shot of their delicious choices. She was quite pleased when she saw the final image you see here.
More to come.