First Random of 2016

Before we tackle any other subject, it must be noted that the prized exhibit of this series of shots is the absolutely worst picture taken of the festive trolley bus by anyone this season or, possibly, ever. If Henri Cartier-Bresson considered the decisive moment to be the best moment for taking a shot, this particular one was clearly taken at the worst moment. Since it’s also one of the first pictures of the year- well, I don’t know what that means, hopefully that it’ll be all uphill from here.

The up side is that, since it’s such a splendid failure, I very vividly recall the moment it was taken- I have a few other shots like that, mostly concert snaps which happened about a millisecond after the decisive moment, and are therefore of a somewhat undecisive nature. Yet, strangely, I remember them, in their possible yet never materialized glory, better than I remember some shots I actually took.

The rest is mostly fog and sunrises, as January is always about the mornings- the sunset comes so quickly that I am almost always caught up in something else and miss it altogether, whereas at dawn I am prowling after coffee just as the light breaks. Or alternatively I am getting chilled to the bone by a decidedly londonish wet fog, which looks great in pictures but is a pain to be in- literal joint pain and the very real struggle of pressing the shutter release button.