Writing Prompt 21: Old Family Photograph
Fixed in Time
A makeshift table holds a pot and other items for eating outside. The girl on the right tilts her head at the camera, her image slightly out of focus. A woman, a boy, a man look at the photographer while another woman concentrates her gaze on cutting something in her hand.
The photographer arranged the tripod a few feet back from the family group.
He pulled apart the legs and steadied it on the rocky ground making sure the camera was level. The air was warm and the family had found a cool place under some trees to have something to eat. The children peered at the photographer with a mixture of shyness and curiosity. The girl nibbled at her fingernails while the boy looked over his shoulder, wide-eyed as if he'd seen a ghost.
The mother was seated next to her son grateful to have the opportunity to take a break from gathering gravel in a mesh tray, panning for minute nuggets of gold.
The father smiled at the photographer and placed his right foot on a flat rock in front of him. He was dressed well, tie, handkerchief, his jacket slung across the boulder behind him. Only the woman standing next to the father didn't look his way. She held something in her hand. Food, a potato perhaps. Her gaze was concentrated on the task in front of her.
The photographer adjusted the exposure and took the photograph.
He gathered his things together telling the father that he would send them a copy of the print. The father told the photographer that they were in temporary accommodation. The photographer shrugged and dipped his head. He tapped the brim of his hat at the women of the group.
Thank you for your time, he said. Good luck.
Story first posted December 2019 / Photo of a photo in Calico ghost town, California 2016
