The SLR camera was all set for a hard day ahead! Its efficiency wasn’t put to test in such a big way before this morning. It’s now being asked to click a few hundreds of shots in few minutes and so was let to rest on the tripod, in case it got tired out! The shade was all perfect on the top of the terrace and from its viewfinder the other terrace that stood higher and 100m far looked so far so good…
I wait having set up my equipment just right for the shots and it’s been an hour or so! The day has been bright so far and not been windy, kind of just perfect for the shooting session… more than getting impatient, I’m getting excited and almost twice every few seconds I peep from the viewfinder and try few trial shots, delete them quickly, peep, click, delete, peep, click and then I don’t delete… coz they have arrived…
The SLR hadn’t missed the arriving shot, hopefully so coz I’ve no time to switch to the slideshow mode. Her eyes look so damn beautiful filling the viewfinder’s screen and in turn my eyes. Fast and quick she rotates her neck round about, up n down and 10 clicks. She walks somewhere, I haven’t seen where and the focus is spot on her upper part. She’s moving constantly and so am I, and the clicks and the SLR. In the next moment she becomes difficult to focus and no matter how much I adjust my lenses, she’s been replaced in the viewfinder…
With stretched wings she flies off as her friend comes and embraces the viewfinder’s screen and in turn, (of course) my eyes. One beauty replaced by another – a small part of my mind mentions in the background like a narration to the scene! Her long whitish dupatta over her lips and dropping like Niagara on my SLR! I don’t move to find the one that has fled, but slowly motion and rightly focus on the standing beauty knowing she won’t and can’t fly… there have been 50 plus clicks almost half on the falling Niagara and the rest on good and revealing expressions on her face!
She runs and stops and jumps but can’t catch. The terrace is their only playground I know for sure and so am capable of covering every corner behind the lens. Just like she’s trying to catch her pet I’m hard on SLR not to miss a frame. I could’ve bought a handy cam and shot a video instead, another part of my mind tells me… but I ask it to rush off, I need stills and stills that look like pausing every frame of a video. Not a video! The arguing part disappears and joins the rest of the brain, now busy on the viewfinder finding best of the views clicking faster than mouse clicks!
She’s still unable to catch hold of her pet but the round-eyed dove decides to slow down and reaches her master just to grab the dupatta and fly off in a jiffy! Now she’s challenged even more by a mere bird that has not just got off from her but also with her dupatta! Now the clicks happen naturally on wherever the dupatta hadn’t let the lens pass through… clicks as the dupatta was dragged, clicks as a hand tries to cover, clicks as the hand loosens to reach out to the bird and more clicks as the bright morning transforms into a thundering stormy noon! Showers await…
The drops, first and all that follow later get a berth in the SLR. The cheeks that turn wet and the salwar that got tightly glued to her now more transparent legs n waist n the top are ready to get printed on photo papers in n numbers!
The dove is affected by the windy rain and gives up. The dupatta flows down and so does the dove in her arms. Their noses kiss each other on the viewfinder followed by her lips on the dove’s crown! She stands making an umbrella out of her dupatta which shelters the dove and herself in an affectionate package inside the SLR. She then walks inside to leave the dove home.
For the first time my finger has stopped clicking and both of them have disappeared from their playground. Should I curse the rain asks the same part of my brain while the other says, No… we’ve got excellent shots, most importantly the wet ones that were not part of the script, all thanks to the showers!
Should I pack up - I think standing there not getting drenched, thanks to the roof above!
The rains have been quickly replaced back by golden rays and clouds wear the silver crown while she comes back. I smile at something up, above and gently touch my SLR. The dove joins and sits on her shoulder as I get my hand gripped all over again, this time more lovingly! All 4 of us do it again… me, my SLR, she and her dove!
Lights, camera and action…!
