Hello Serendipity

This photo was taken on one of my peripatetic journeys around the neighborhood I live in. As I was walking around with my Minolta XD11 with an expired Agfa color 200, this store caught my attention with the lights reflecting on the glass surfaces. So I lined up my camera, trying to focus on the mannequin behind in the photo. As I was doing so, this fine gentleman came up to me and asked if he can be in the photo. In ideal situation, I would have liked to shown him the photo if it were a digital camera. I was aware I was shooting on an expired film from the 90s (not sure how it would come out) and that I probably won't meet this person again to show him the photo. Amidst these confusing factors playing in my head, nonetheless, I readily forgot about the mannequin and replied to the gentleman in positive. As I was recalibrating the exposure, I thought he would give a frontal pose like any other. But to my surprise, he went and turned his back towards me and shouted "ready?" I didn't tell him how to pose and thought to myself "that'd be a weird photo if he poses with his back towards me." I signalled that I was ready and immediately he turned around and gave this pose. I thanked him after the photo and we parted ways. It came out to be one of my favorite photos, not because of the photo itself, but because that was the moment I felt local in the neighborhood. The variables of risk (expired film, random stranger etc.) that this moment captured offered me a glimpse into hopeless optimism: something that only analog photography can offer. I call this photo "Hello Serendipity."

Photographer:
jeni3
Uploaded:
2022-11-27
Camera:
Minolta XD11
Film:
Agfacolor 200
Lens:
Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1,7
Albums:
Neighborhood cartographies
More photos by jeni3