Seeing (at all)

The Flower Lady, 2012

I know now that going out to take pictures on a beautiful bright day just after your eyes have been dilated is a fool’s errand. But that didn’t stop me from trying on Saturday afternoon.

It was a gorgeous days. There were all sorts of things going on that I could have photographed. But instead of getting down to business I decided to start by doing something about my “indoor” glasses that had developed some kind haze on the exterior finish of the lenses that made it difficult to see through them clearly.

I didn’t think this would be a problem. I innocently thought I could go up to one of the big eyeglass chains and get a new pair of glasses using the same prescription as the old ones. What I didn’t realize was that the glasses were old enough that state law required a new prescription. That required an eye exam.

That didn’t upset me, though. I was due for an eye exam and a nearby eye doctor was able to see me without too much of a wait.

(The part of the doctor is this little play of mine could have been performed by Martin Scorsese. The doctor’s a nice guy, neat in appearance, short in stature and precise in his work. But he had a slightly manic air about him that reminded me of that hilarious amped up cameo role that Scorsese had the Albert Brooks’ movie, The Muse.)

I’ll save you all the wear and tear of the exam. My eyes were fine, the prescription didn’t require changing and new glasses were subsequently ordered. But the doctor’s assistant was delayed in dilating my eyes, which not only delayed the completion of the eye exam, but sent me back out into the sunny day with eyes that were wide open. Even with very dark sunglasses it was like walking in a bright white cloud. I stopped at a couple of places to take pictures, but much of the opportunity of the day was wasted on me because being out in the open air was making it very difficult to see. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon looking down at the ground. By the time my eyes were back to normal the sun was starting to set.

The only successful picture of the day is the one shown above. I was so distracted by the light that I didn’t even get the lady’s name. But she was so willing when I asked if I could photograph her that I couldn’t pass her up. And fortunately, given my temporary partial blindness, she was shorter than me and, as such, well within my range of vision.