(Leica X1)
I'd say, of a chance. Shots of the same scene taken at even slightly different moments ooze with distinctive feelings. The same was said to me by a professional photographer graduated from a Paris photography course. What he learned in class from a rather scientific study is that the general viewers, when asked about the feelings arisen in them prompted by such shots, invariably had different interpretations of the same scene reproduced in different photos. Fleeting is the combination of light, subjects and the feelings of the person behind the camera, which combine to shift the nuances in the final images.
Repeatedly anticipated in my mind had been a photo with a person puffing a wisp of smoke. I was very excited at coming across this scene but actually missed the right moment. Today's photo lacks the strange, nostalgic feelings this scene initially presented to me of a gentleman attired in a full set of sleek western suit waiting for someone or something anxiously in a local area smack of an old Hong Kong. The reason is that I walked past him wondering how I could go near him to get the shot. I knew the light was right to catch the wisp of smoke in the final image because I had done several before when it wasn't. It is exactly because of the hesitation that I failed to catch the first feelings I saw in the scene. But I went back anyway and snapped this shot. The man went away after this shot. I didn't ask; he would have left if I had asked.
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