always and ever upward

It's never shocking to those that know me when I tell them of my many misadventures in photography. One of the things I am not known for is situational awareness, and this goes double when I have a camera in my hand. When something catches my eye I am single minded in my focus to capture what I see. Case in point, this staircase, which I have titled "eye of the staircase" or, on occasion, "ascension" (I can't decide which I like better).

I took this picture when I was visiting my in-laws two summers ago while Aaron was deployed. My sister in law, mother in law and I went to a nearby Delaware historic home for the grand tour and, unlike most historic homes, I was allowed to bring my camera inside. Of course I also brought my tripod. So there we were, three women in a crowd, ambling from room to room with a tour guide in the lead, me trailing behind, toting camera bag, tripod and camera. We came to the central area where this staircase rose above us and, believe it or not, I didn't even notice. Nor did the tour guide point it out. It was my mother in law who, thankfully, exclaimed over it and what a cool picture it would make. As soon as I looked up, I was hooked. I would get this shot, come hell or high water. However, there were two things working against me. One - I was shooting with a film camera at the time - no instant feedback. Two - I was on a tour that was rapidly wrapping up in the room where the staircase was, so I had to hurry. Oh, and three, the place I needed to stand was inconveniently behind one of those red fuzzy people-keeper-outer barrier things on metal stands. But this did not deter me.

In my aforementioned, single minded focus, driven by the need to get the shot, I, and my cumbersome tripod, crawled around on the floor, narrowly missing knocking over the red fuzzy thing, sweating, shorts and tee shirt coming dangerously close to being unseemly in the company of strangers. Oh, and did I mention I was doing this all in front of the tour group and that the guide was standing right in front of where I was, facing the other direction? So while all the tour group looked on, pretending to listen, but really watching the nut case with the camera who was on her hands and knees on the floor, I attempted to find the best vantage spot and set up my 10 pound tripod without knocking anything over. Finally, I had it all ready to go. I took four shots, every one of them turned out amazing, despite using film!

So, what's the lesson in this story? That sometimes you have to embarrass yourself and the people you're with to get the shot, but the result may definitely be worth it.