A Gift

Every now and again an image simply falls across your line of sight, unannounced and unconditional. Here’s one, made in Chicago in 2018. I’d been out walking around with the idea that I’d find a place where I could watch the El train snake around some high-rise buildings. Along the way I found people up and down stairs, flowers where I least expected, a huge red Calder sculpture. I think all that looking primed the pump for what I ultimately found and consider the most successful photo I made that day. Below you can see more of the scene. I loved those bright orange barriers, and I don’t mind this photo, but as I walked around the scene checking it out from different angles, the weight of the drapes and the casual way they’d been drawn up with a cord suggested something more. You can decide for yourself what the more is; I’m not entirely sure myself. It reminds me once again that the more I look, the more I see.