The Kuickies #4: Flash Photography

Todd is super excited. He's got his brand new camera, well brand new to him at least, and he's hitting the town for some candid photos. You see, Todd grew up watching his father the photographer and how he always used to expertly maneuver the old film cameras back in the day. He admired the man and learned a lot, most notably to appreciate the control one has when handling an old camera.

New cameras really take all the control out of someone's hands, but an old camera has adjustments, settings, everything one can imagine that finely tunes an image to perfect clarity. Todd is a young man outside his generation and the camera he has is far older than even most his father used to use. Still, it came from an antique shop down the road near where he grew up and as that shop has closed, some of its antiquities live on with Todd now.

He prefers candid shots with people in them, and so Todd begins his photographic journey in the park, having to leave the park quickly due to an unforeseen music festival starting up. Still, it's no problem, he'll find candid shots elsewhere.

Only one bit of trouble can stop his perfect day of breaking in the old camera, and that is the trouble of figuring out just why he can't seem to turn the flash off. If anything ruins a good candid shot it's a bright blinding flash and no matter what Todd does, the flash seems determined to go off.

Perhaps he should have listened to the old man selling off the stock in his antiquities store. Maybe there was more to what he said about the internal parts of this camera being corrupted.

One thing is for sure, this camera is capturing more than just startled strangers locked in a moment in time. It's capturing the final moments those individuals will remember before something inside them becomes corrupted as well. And yet Todd continues on, ever in search of the perfect shot, never aware of just how much control he truly wields.