It’s not Throwback Thursday, but I’m not bothered with that right now. This is quite a throwback, one that predates this blog by a good six months.
That makes it almost nine years ago.
I am revisiting this photo for a personal project of mine and since it has never been introduced in this blog, I’m sharing it with you now. There are quite a few stories to this image. I’ll tell one, but have fun creating some for yourself.
The setting – Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. February 2006. We were visiting the annual Sapporo Snow Festival, which is amazing. After an evening of watching the light and laser shows around the large snow sculptures, we decided to head down the side streets.
The sidewalks are kept clear all winter long since they are heated.
Goddess, The Boy and friends were in a convenience store (I don’t remember which, but it could have easily been a 7-11) looking for warm drinks and a nibble.
Fact – if you find yourself in Japan and are realizing that it’s getting expensive to eat at restaurants for all three meals, head to the convenience stores for your food for two of your meals. The trays of sushi, sashimi, meats, rice and vegetables are top notch and quite a bit cheaper than a restaurant. The money you save will go a long way towards a very nice dinner.
Anyway, it was crowded and I had my large camera backpack with me, so it was a bit tight in the store. I headed outside to watch all of the activity and enjoy the gently falling snow.
Then this young lady walked past, headed down an empty sidewalk. Rarely does that opportunity present itself in any Japanese city.
What an opportunity it was.
A few months later, I had this image on display at a showing and a musician friend happened to see it, along with a few other images. He liked what he saw, so we started talking about a planned CD release of his music.
The image paired quite nicely with one of the songs on the CD called “City Girl“. Go ahead, click on the link and let it play while you’re reading.
If you had an actual CD in your hands, this would be inside the front cover with a line from his song along the bottom – “young girl, cold and lost in the city”.
Fitting.
He liked another of my images enough to make it the cover image. But it wasn’t just the image, it was the name, which he used for the title of his first CD “Delicate Eye“.
Since then, Kluso has released two more CD’s: “Young Hard Red Spot” and “Determination“, each with my images as cover art.
While it is fun to have images printed, framed and hanging on walls of other people’s homes, it is a unique experience to reach up onto a shelf and pull down CD’s with your pictures on them.
I know it’s early on a Monday morning. Hopefully it’s a good start to a great week.
A week filled with good music and good images.
But first, tell me what story you created when you looked at the picture. I’d love to hear it.
Bill Anders' Rambling, Photos & Beating Feet 