The Photographer and The Florist: A PerayaAU COMPLETE

The Photographer and The Florist: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Get Ricoh from his perch and put him on the tripod. We have permission to do a 360, but we have to make it quick." It was 4:30 a.m. and Macy and Singto were rushing around the shop gathering equipment. Yes, A.M. Time of day mattered little to the professional photographer, only opportunity. He had called her last night after receiving permission from the city officials to take a panorama from the crosswalk, but he had to do it at a time that would not disrupt traffic too badly.

"Which Ricoh? You have three."

"Theta 5. Hey, put the Nikon around your neck. Change the setting from center weight to default. I want to get the four street corners with perspective distort from the center of the four-way if there is no traffic. There's plenty of light from the street lights. I will use mine for bracketing. I will take those while you set up Ricoh in the crosswalk. Line it up with the center traffic line. You got your reflector and the remote?"

"Yes, P'Sing. Got it all." They lugged everything outside, surprisingly organized especially for this time of the morning. Macy didn't have class today, and thankfully the weather was cooperating. The light fog would actually make for a beautiful set of photos, adding an element of depth and mystery if edited correctly. One of the local law enforcement officers was waiting for them. Macy flashed him a smile as he took the reflector from her hands to give her a better grip on the camera and tripod.

The set up and pictures went smoothly. Only a few cars came down the street. The darkest hour was just before dawn, and the same concept could be equated to traffic – the lull before the hustle and bustle to work. Half an hour later, and all that was left to do was to take the cameras back to the studio. Unless you were one of the handful of people who happened to be out and about at that time of the morning, no one would be wiser of the photography session. Good photogs took opportunities where and when they could as Macy learned through this project.

It had only been a couple weeks since Singto had decided to do his "Overlooked" Project. Two weeks and it took less than that for Macy to figure out the real reason behind it. The camera in the window display had made for good advertising. The day they set it up had garnered attention, and they had a steady audience as they had discussed, arranged and rearranged the camera and props like a silent movie to those watching. They had gotten into a playful argument too because she had taken a candid of him making faces at her, before he chased her into the storage room to clean dust bunnies as punishment while he finished the final touches. The window now resembled an old 1920s vintage scene from the American SpeakEasy. She had seen several take out their cell phones and take a few shots of them working, but she was certain that those were not because of the display, but more because her boss was gorgeous. If he wasn't a photographer, he could be a model. She had been seriously thinking of asking him to be the model for her final project, but had yet gotten the courage. However with his recent behavior, Macy had a devious idea she had to work the finer details out before she wanted to ask. All it would take is planning, timing, and a little luck to get it done.

She had noticed a habit Singto developed until it became routine. Every day around 3 p.m. he would find an excuse to be near the window camera. At first, she thought it was happenstance, until she realized what "random" he was focusing on... wasn't always random. A certain person was usually somehow in those photos. She didn't blame him for his stalkerish tendency. Krist was naturally photogenic and made some gorgeous pictures. It was becoming more obvious that Singto's interest was more than just photographic. She hoped that one day he would get the courage to talk to the man more than just a brief greeting on the sidewalk or in passing about some flower arrangement he was loading into the truck to deliver. Some of those, Macy suspected were also contrived, as he had also developed an interest in going to the café on the other block...past the florist shop.