Do You Believe in Second Chances?

There was a lesson I was taught in college to always carry a camera with me, because you never know what you're going to see and you don't want to miss that quintessential moment. I've been pretty disciplined to this rule, however, since having my car broken into and my credit cards stolen on two separate occasions this year, I have been leaving my gear at home more often.

Getting a second chance to photograph a moment isn't something that happens very often, but it happened to me last week when I was returning home to Astoria after my visit on Cape Cod and drove by Astoria Park. Earlier in the summer I had seen a man with his dogs sleeping on the park bench and it was a great image -- but I didn't have my camera. I was cursing and furious with myself and have had the photograph in my brain since that day. When I was driving home last week, he was there again, resting with all of his dogs. I slammed the car in reverse and pulled out my long lens and shot this from the driver's seat of my car.



This photo was a victory for me because I finally was able to capture a moment stuck in my brain for the last several weeks that I thought I had missed. But that is one of the amazing and interesting things about the Park, it has patterns of people and things and they all connect in a way that shapes and defines Astoria Park. This man is apparently a regular and I was able to spot him again during his "routine".

More park shots to come this month...