civilized ku # 893-94 / ku # 837-38 ~ opportunity knocks but there is something unexpected at the door

Tree stump ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Hedge ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
River ice breakup ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Vernal water ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenYesterday was the first official day of Spring. Although things may be greening up in more southern climes, Winter is not quite willing to give up its hold, albeit rather tepid, on our neck of the woods.

For the most part, the weather situation is OK with me. My weather expectations have been set to not seeing any green for at least another couple weeks. Even then, I expect brown to be the dominate color and the color white to be a very minor and fast disappearing feature. However, in the interim, I will take picturing advantage of any days like yesterday - when a gray overcast and light dusting of snow creates a delicate lace-like landscape tapestry.

That said, I must confess that I should be posting a new single women picture today. However, yesterday, despite a great opportunity to make a new single women picture, I didn't do so. Events conspired to deny me the ability to act on the opportunity and, in the process, gave me a new insight into the single women project's raison d'être ....

The picture's accompanying this entry were made yesterday while I was out and about for the purpose of dropping off one of our cars to a body repair shop - the car's driver side rocker panel was ripped open, front to back, by a piece of metal on the road - and picking up a rental vehicle to drive while our car is in for repair. While at the car rental place, an interesting / single women photo target* immediately caught my eye. She was sitting alone waiting for something, car rental wise, to happen. At the time, there was enough other activity going on in the place (or so I thought) to mask, or at least not make readily apparent to my intended target, any picture making activity I might undertake.

ASIDE - FYI, it is an essential part of this project that the women I picture not be aware of my picturing activity or, if they are, that they still act "normally" and go about their regularly scheduled business at hand.

In any event, I was moving about and trying to blend in - just another car rental customer - when I noticed that my target was watching me as much as I was watching her. Every time I looked at her, she was looking at me and it was only a matter of time until the deal-killer transpired. That is to say, she smiled at me and I suspected, then and there, that the gig was up. That suspicion was confirmed a few minutes later when the entire place became devoid of people other than me and her - the rental clerks had all left the building to escort all the other customers to their rental vehicles, at which point she turned to me and began to comment on that classic ice-breaker subject, the weather (it and begun to snow).

Now, I should make it clear here that the target in question was a woman of rather attractive stature and I was not overly displeased that she had taken notice of me and had established a relationship beyond the eye-lock contact game. However, I was certain there would be no picturing relationship between us. Hey, win some, lose some.

Long story short, I had learned early that she was waiting (after returning a rental car) for someone from the rental place to give her a ride to somewhere, so, once we got past the weather talk, I offered to give her that ride. She said she would be delighted and, once I had my rental vehicle, off we went to her place of business, The Center for the Study of Canada (apparently we're keeping our eye on our neighbor to the north) at the State University of New York / Plattsburgh. The ride was (relatively) short and sweet, after which we both went about our respective business.

End of story.

However, upon reflecting upon the encounter, I came to the conclusion, single women picture wise, that I should be making and including some pictures in the series wherein the observed is looking directly at the camera (and me) to reflect at least a moment of mutual recognition. That's because what I had experienced was part and parcel of the voyeuristic nature behind my single women series - the latent desire for reciprocal response from the observed party. A response that is a kind of bonus payout - the chance to engage in a mutually playful and enjoyable bit of flirting.

IMO, a few pictures reflective of mutual recognition will make the voyeur story more complete and little less one-sided. Pictures of that interaction will recognize the sometime state of charged energy that such a situation can occasionally create.

*I do not consider the single women women solely as "photo-targets". Far from it. If you haven't previously, please read this and this for a better understanding regarding the motivations and intentions of my single women series.