An Instant..

is sometimes all the time you get to make a portrait. A fleeting glance of an elegant woman dressed in red and white as she flitters through your peripheral vision.

I was actually looking in the complete opposite direction, photographing cherry blossom trees. In the corner of my eye I saw a flash of colour and whirled around.

A female shrine attendant at Hokkaido Jingu (Hokkaido's main shrine) had just come out the main entrance and was heading down the stairs to do something.

I had missed her, but wait, she's turning around to go back again. I think she must have been quite startled to see this foreigner bundled up in warm clothes and photo vest come bounding up to her for a photo.

She politely agreed and posed on the steps for me. When somebody is this co-operative and obviously in a hurry how long can you hold them up? All my bravery was eaten up by asking her to pose and I took just one shot. I think it's a lovely portrait but when I got back home a colleague rightly pointed out the top step running through her head. Oh well, try again another day. I still like the shot.

It was taken with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens on Fuji Velvia with the camera on a tripod.

To subscribe to this blog click here