Week Six of 52 Stories: Lovers in the Spring
Posted on 14. Feb, 2009 by Deb in As the Web Turns, Observations
This is for the 52 Stories group on Flickr where we take one picture a week and write a story. This is mine for Week Six.
People watching is certainly a pastime of which I see as one of those guilty pleasures in life. People are fascinating as they go about their lives, often oblivious to the surrounding world. I am always wondering about the person’s story. At times, it’s suitable to engage in conversation the people around you, and many of the stories you will see from me in this project will reflect just that: a tiny piece of a life, captured in conversations with a stranger. There are situations, however, that are best left unexplored, albeit for a safety factor (both emotional safety and physical safety) or an due to the inappropriateness of an approach during a moment of grief or passion.
As an observer of life, there is something especially delicious about the opportunity to watch lovers. Body language gives you the glimpses inside their story, though you will never be privileged enough to know all the twists and turns their lives took to become this intertwined pair. An elderly couple holding hands can show the affection that has continued beyond youth and you can sometimes see the spark between a couple if you hold the look for more than ten seconds. The rare opportunity to unobtrusively snap a photo gives you the opportunity to look at more. The tilt of the head as she listens to him speak, the leaning into each other for just an smidgen of closeness in a public space, or the possessiveness of an arm that shows he sees her as his property. Sometimes, it is obvious that one party is more interested than the other.
As I walked around the curve of the Jefferson Memorial to snag a photo of The Tidal Basin awash in Cherry Blossoms, I happened upon this couple leaning in to snap their own personal snapshot of the moment. At one of the busiest locations during the Cherry Blossom Festival, they have managed to find complete privacy. She is trying to get a photo, for the memory of their trip or perhaps to show her Facebook friends their visit to DC. He is obliging her the photo, but he seems more interested in leaning in to whisper in her ear and take in the scent of her.
I’ve been woolgathering for days about this couple, imagining the behind the scenes of their relationship. I am a writer of fact more than fiction these days. My words of prose were inadequate to do justice to her smile and his lean.
ruminator
14. Feb, 2009
You and Wife would get along marvelously in this regard. She’s a confirmed people-watcher too.
Chessie
14. Feb, 2009
Deb, What I find fascinating is the contrast of how large the pillars are to everything else within the picture. This observation includes the cherry trees in the background, which by the way are marvelously framed by the still naked hardwoods in the foreground. The water reflecting light in some spots and harboring darker reflections in others is also quite stimulating.
I like this picture, not just for the people…but for all the contrasts it contains!
Sara J.
21. Feb, 2009
Yesterday afternoon I was enjoying a latte with the dunkler Spatzi (dark little sparrow) in our favorite coffee shop. Out of the blue he gave me a beautiful poem that he’d written, and it was clear that I had been his inspiration. Though I usually work hard to keep my emotions under wraps, I was overwhelmed in that moment. Spatzi left his chair and took me in his arms, trailing little kisses here and there across my face, and when I finally opened my eyes again I noticed that our quiet moment had attracted the attention of the staff and patrons… it was a moment to remember for a lifetime.