[Florence, Italy – July 2010]
I love the spontaneous surprises of street photography – sometimes you get your shot and sometimes you don’t, but the day is always full of unexpected and vibrant encounters.
One that got away:
- From my time in Florence I remember an early morning stroll down tiny, twisty back streets. An old man with a craggy, olive complexion rode his bicycle over the cobblestones. His bike was the same color as his faded black fedora. He smoked and half-steered with one hand and carried fresh bread with the other. As he passed, he nodded solemnly and winked mischievously. I was so enchanted that I didn’t even consider my camera until he was a distant black whirling blur on the cobblestones.
One that I captured:
- The Florentine Nun pictured above glared at me from atop her wimple-white bike as she waited for the stop light to change. She was my camera’s unwilling captive and so, despite the implied comeuppance-in-the here-after threat of her stern glare, I cheekily snapped her photo. I love that she is wearing rose-colored sunglasses! What a compliment to her brown habit and matching brown Birkenstocks.
It was only later that I noticed the tightly garbed sexy Italian woman (on her cell phone no less) in the background. I see her unexpected yet perfect placement in my image as proof that sometimes the Goddess of Photo Fortune smiles down upon us.
In joy,
Melinda