SERENDIPITY

..."a propensity for making fortuitous discoveries while looking for something unrelated"

I heard through the grapevine that one of the old, abandoned structures in Fonda is scheduled to be demolished sometime in the near future. I decided to get a few last shots of it, so after dinner tonight I grabbed my camera bag and tripod and drove down to see what I could see.

After "working" it for a while, very unsuccessfully, I might add, I thought I might take some shots of the street. That, too, proved unfruitful, but because it was such a beautiful evening and just having the camera in my hand is like a tranquilizer for me, I wasn't too disappointed. I wasn't in any hurry to return home, so I kept looking around, hoping for some inspiration.

Suddenly, it was SERENDIPITY!!! I would practice photographing car trails--you know, the headlights and taillights of the cars passing by. Eureka!

So I set up my tripod and tried to estimate the shutter speed I'd need. Since I'd never really done this before, it was pure guesswork at the beginning.

Now...you need to understand that Fonda is not exactly a booming metropolis. Truth be told, it's neither booming, nor a metropolis, and after dinner it's one of those places where they almost roll up the sidewalks.

So, I got all set up, and then waited. And waited. And waited. Once in a while a car would pass by and I would press the shutter. Half the cars didn't even have their lights on (whatever happened to daytime running lights?) Failure after failure... I slowed down the shutter speed--not slow enough. I put on the polarizer--still not slow enough. Turn down the iso--okay, now it's beginning to look better.

Because there was usually only one car at a time going by, it still didn't look too exciting, but I felt like I was getting the hang of it.

Only one side of the road in the following image, but at least two different vehicles. A little more interesting.

The street lights came on and added a little more interest.

The tail lights give it even more interest, especially since that vehicle turned the corner onto the main road.

Finally!!! Vehicles going in both directions AND turning corners. I was a very happy camper, didn't think I'd get better than this tonight, so I packed up and went home.

Serendipity is a wonderful thing!