A door just opened on a street — Emily Dickinson

Caitlin Legault posed for me several times not too long ago. Her face was a complete enigma. I could never guess what she was thinking and I would have certainly lost all my clothes to her if we had played poker. There is something about her face in which the word face is not the adequate word to define it. Perhaps using the French visage might apply.
We were in my dusty garage at the old Athlone house when she suggested she do what you see here. The light challenged my 35mm colour negative film’s ability to handle extreme contrast, But I like the photograph.
The photograph beckons me to get out of my tiny Kits studio and use light (in that other century it was called available light and it meant that you used it without amending it with an extraneous light you might bring along.

A door just opened on a street —
I, lost, was passing by —
An instant’s width of warmth disclosed
And wealth, and company.
The door as sudden shut, and I,
I, lost, was passing by, —
Lost doubly, but by contrast most,
Enlightening misery.
Emily Dickinson
Originally published at blog.alexwaterhousehayward.com.

