Hart Hunter

Selling Clothes

Through the lens of his camera, the world was very simple. Click. Flash. A single moment in time preserved forever. Like his moment with Katy in the park, or the moment of Maya's birthday. Shawn liked to take pictures of his girlfriend. He had entire memory cards filled with photos of Katy, but there were only a few he'd printed to frame. Shawn wondered if he'd ever bring Katy up to his cabin. She probably couldn't get away from work long enough to visit, and Maya would want to come for sure. It was getting more and more difficult to keep his relationship with Katy, and his relationship with Maya separate. His time with them had become so structured, so planned, to make sure they didn't overlap too much.

"I hired you to take pictures of the kids," a voice called, breaking his thoughts. "Not the grass."

Shawn blinked, then fumbled with his camera to stop it from slowly drifting down.

"Ah sorry," Shawn said. "Mind wondered." And he raised the camera back up to focus on the group of children he was supposed to be preserving forever on film. He told the kids to smile and tried to think of ways to get them to when that didn't work. Telling the girls to think of shopping sprees.

"And guys," Shawn added. "If you can't smile for any other reason, just think of getting out of those shopping trips." Shawn was glad to see a smile on every face when he was done and his camera flashed, taking picture after picture while the smiles lasted.

He continued to direct them, trying to get as many great pictures as he could. This was a job after all, even if it was also birthday party for a spoiled pre-teen girl. The parents wanted good pictures, and they would get them. Once he'd taken all the shots he could think of, he asked the parents if they wanted anything specific.

"The birthday girl surrounded by all her presents," the mother said. Shawn tried not to roll his eyes.

"Alright then," Shawn said, turning to once again set up a shot. This little girl was very good at being in the spotlight and unlike her friends, Shawn barely had to direct her once she was in place. In fact, he more often had to get her to pose less dramatically.

"Less than that," Shawn told her. "Okay yeah better, but maybe instead of pretending you're a dragon hoarding your treasure, just smile and look this way." The dragon remark got a genuine laugh, and Shawn managed to get a half dozen really natural looking pictures out of her.

After checking if they wanted any more photos and being told that was enough, Shawn bid them good day and said he'd be back with the proofs in about an hour.

Shawn went back to his car, and set up his portable photo lab in the back. He could remember when all photos had to be developed in a dark room. Shawn had some very fond memories of working in such a place, but today it was a lot similar. Taking the memory stick out of his camera, Shawn plugged it into his computer and transfer the files. After deleting any obvious ones - like the time he'd taken a photo of his shoes - Shawn put all the photos into two folders on a flash drive. One folder was what he thought of as the best, and the other all the originals. Putting everything away again, Shawn went back to the birthday party and handed over the flash drive.

"Thank you very much," the birthday girl's mother said.

"Indeed," the father said. "We've never hired a photograph so good with kids before. I hope you will be available this time next year?"

"I will be," Shawn smiled, happy to be sure of a repeat customer.

"I have to ask," the mother continued. "How old is your daughter?"

"Oh I don't have kids," Shawn replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the mother said kindly. "It was just from how you were with the kids I thought-"