silhouettes on the shade

I was a girl scout. My favorite part about being a girl scout was collecting the badges. After my mom sewed each new badge onto the stylin' green over-the-shoulder sash, I'd put on my uniform and savor the look in front of my full length bedroom mirror.

Was "be prepared" the motto? I know it was for the boy scouts. Frankly, I would have been happier to be a boy scout. They got to do more adventuresome and dangerous stuff. On second thought, they didn't have that cool sash for their badges, so maybe not.

At any rate, I'd like to think I am always well prepared. Yesterday, as soon as I realized there were guys washing the outside windows at our high rise condo, I gathered up my available cameras (the iPhone and the Canon), moved a couple pieces of furniture away from the window, did a few test shots and then waited patiently in my chair for the window washer guys to get to my floor.

It took a little while, but suddenly they appeared at the top portion of our windows. (They were working their way down from the 10th floor, and we are on the 4th.) Just as I'd hoped, they were perfectly backlit by the sun. Their silhouettes on the shades were strikingly beautiful. Just as I'd imagined. And, man, I was prepared to get the shot.

As the guys moved downward and more into the frame of my window, the shadows they cast were graceful and beautifully distorted. My heartbeat quickened. I started shooting like mad with my iPhone (with the Hipsta application).

I made so many rapid fire captures that the camera stalled... way before the dancing silhouetted figures on my shade reached their peak of photographable greatness. The camera went into "winding film" mode and wouldn't let me take any more shots. So, being the prepared scout that I have always been, I smugly picked up my Canon that was turned on and ready to go. No problemo.

I kept shooting. The elongated figures of the window washers, as they reached up to soap and then squeegee, were incredible! I fired off as many shots as I could in a short period of time, basking in the knowledge that each time I depressed the shutter, I was making a spine-tingling photograph. The poor iPhone finally stopped coughing and sputtering, so I grabbed it to shoot a few more pictures as the guys disappeared from my window frame on their trek down toward the 3rd floor. Just like that, they were gone.

I could barely wait to see the pictures! Forget the iPhone; it was still in "winding film" mode and was starting to look a little green. I pulled out my laptop and card reader so I could view the masterpieces I'd just made on the Canon.

I did not know it is possible to shoot with that camera EVEN THOUGH A CF CARD HAS NOT BEEN INSERTED. A good girl scout would have made sure there was a card in the camera. I had disgraced my entire troop.

After some time, still shaking my head in disbelief and occasionally banging my fist on the table, I picked up my tired little iPhone and sifted through the shots it had managed to record.

There were two that do hint at the masterpieces I surely made but will never see.





Around the time I was a girl scout, I was also a huge fan of Herman's Hermits.