The Most Blessed Photographer
Could Not Have Possibly Imagined
I knew when I went to the Inniswood Plant Sale this afternoon that I would miss most of the crowd and probably all of the plants. I went anyway thinking that I could make a photo of the nearly empty sales tables. Surely there would be a misshapen Hosta or dried-out daisy I could put in the foreground of a denuded plant sale.
My conjecture about the status of the plants and people was correct. There were few of either.
After being greeted by a volunteer offering a wagon for the volume of plants I might buy and a color-coded pricing sheet I stepped into the sales arena prepared to have to work hard to make a photo of something that wasn’t there.
Turning down the first row of nearly empty tables to begin my feature hunt I stopped, blinking twice to ensure I wasn't hallucinating. In front of me, a woman's left arm was covered in vibrant flower tattoos, from a sunflower on her elbow to a peony on her hand. Amidst the barren tables, she was a living bouquet, the most colorful arrangement at the sale.
After explaining my need for a colorful plant sale photo and that her arm was a perfect subject, I told her I was going to be following her until she finished shopping because her left arm was now my obsession. And I did just that as she smelled chocolate mint, pinched a leaf of stevia, delighted over small-leafed basil, and accidentally pulled a desired plant from another woman’s selections.
I talked with the park ranger as I was leaving. He wanted to know if I’d made a good photo at the sale, especially because I was late.
My answer was short and simple.
“Yes. I am blessed.”
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