Exposure & Shutter Speeds

| 1 | 7 Years Later

7 years later...

I burst through the door of my apartment, sighing with relief as I kicked off my ballet flats at the door and wriggled my now un-imprisoned toes on the cool floorboards. I used my hip to shut my front door, not bothering to lock it, and put my bags down.

I stripped off the black polo shirt I was required to wear to work, at a small electronics store, wriggled out of my tight, black, knee length skirt and dumped them both on the couch on the way to my room. I walked into the cool, peacefulness of my room and longingly looked at my bed - thinking about the books I had downloaded earlier and my daylong craving to curl up with them. With that thought in mind, I located my XXL men's shirt, that was more like a dress, and reached around to remove my bra. Just as I was about to work the last hook free, my phone started ringing.

Racing across the apartment to the pile of bags dumped near the door in my underwear, I got there just in time.

I'd seen the caller ID just as I hit answer "Lana? Is everything ok?" I asked my best friend, a little out of breath from my almost naked sprint.

"Hi Bee! Yes, yes of course! I just called to... umm, ask a favour?"

Puzzled, as Lan never usually hesitated - seeing as she was in her last year of a law degree, being a typical lawyer she went after what she wanted with guns blazing.

"Hmm, yes, what is it?" I asked.

"Well, you see, you know I'm about to graduate. Which means applying for jobs. Applying for jobs, needs a resume, which also needs head shots?" She finally said, rushing the end bit.

"Head sh- wait, you need head shots? So I'm assuming you mean you want me to recommend someone?"

"Well, no, I was kind of hoping that... You'd take them?"

My breath caught, and my palms got instantly sweaty.

"Y-you know I don't do that anymore" I stuttered back.

"Aww come on! You where the best! No one can take shots of me like you do. Trust me. I tried getting someone else but they looked absolutely awful! And I neeeeeed to look good!"

Lan had a way of getting in your head and arguing you out of your ways. I'm telling you. Lawyer best friends are the worst.

I was silent as I thought about it. Could I do it? I had given it all up when -

"So? Will you do it? For me? You know, bestest friend in the whole world?" She begged.

We had a habit of reverting to our teenage years dialogue when trying to bargain with the other one.

I sighed. "Fine!" I replied back, "when?"

"How about five minutes? I'm just coming around the corner to your block."

"Argh!! Lan!" I screeched back. "I'm so not ready for this! I'm still in my underwear!"

"Oh shut up, it's nothing I haven't seen before" she laughed back at me. "See you soon!" Then all I heard was silence.

Lan lived next door to me when we where growing up, and would quite often just waltz into my house unannounced, with me usually in some state of undress, or if I was lucky just my pyjamas.

I blinked a few times, scrambled to my feet, and rushed into my room. Grabbing the nearest article of clothing, I was glad to see it was my favourite black dress, tight around my boobs, with buttons all the way up, falling just above my knees. And the best part? It had pockets. I threw it on and walked into my wardrobe, the skirt lightly swishing around my knees.

I took a deep breath, and moved my jeans to one side. Behind them, was two large, heavy, black bags. I grabbed out the larger of the two, sliding it out from the shelf. I used the bags weight to pull it out the rest of the way and let it fall from the shelf. I exhaled as the full weight of it hit against my thigh.

I placed the bag down on the bed, dust particles swirling through the air. I paused for a minute, distracted by the floating pieces almost dancing in the air. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, and sent the particles into a spiral. I grabbed the bag and started to unzip it, tugging on it on places where it caught. It hadn't been opened in almost 3 years now, the zip wasn't as high quality as I thought it was.

One final yank and the zip was undone. I stared at the bag, and with sweaty hands I slowly opened it up.

There sat what once was my most prized possessions. My camera bodies. All the lenses. All that glass and metal caught the light and shone back at me. It was just as I left it after my last job. No dust layers - it was still pristine. Good to know the bag had done its job.

My hands shook a little as I got out the camera body and placed it on my bed. I ran my fingers lightly over the lenses and selected my 85mm Nikon lens for Lana's head shots, and unscrewed both caps on the camera body and lens, and popped the lens on. I was moving on auto pilot now, grabbing one of the batteries rolling around the case and the charging cable, plugging it into the wall outlet to charge up the battery.

Carrying the familiar weight with me, I walked into my office. There I rifled through my desk drawers until I found my stash of SD cards and popped one into the slot in the side of my Nikon.

I was staring blankly at the camera in my hands when I was startled by the sound of my door opening - remembering I forgot to lock it I ran out to my lounge room, hoping it was Lana and not some random bursting through the door.