Keeping The Scene

Keeping The Scene

By Raneil Antonio Ibay

Stuck in the heavy traffic of Makati in the middle of a sweltering and sleepy afternoon, commuters scurry to their destinations, some even bumping into each other nearly exchanging faces as they try to beat the blinking “Do Not Cross” sign. Out from nowhere, a paraplegic slowly and painfully inches his way amidst the onslaught of human stampede. He is pedaling, with his hands, a contraption that is a cross between a wheelchair, a mountain bike and a go-kart, sweat running down the side of his forehead with every turn of the crank. A great shot. My photographer friend and I looked at each other not believing that we both do not have a camera on hand.

            I guess this happens to all of us. It’s like the unwritten law of “Seek and you shall not find”.  This however, is the reverse of that law, “Thou shall not bring a camera and an amazing scene shall appear before you”.  Ever found yourself saying, “It’s just a short trip, no need to bring a camera, and besides, it’s raining.”, then along comes a scene of children playing, not minding the busy street and rain.

Such is the curse of photographers. We see things others barely even notice and if we’re lucky enough, record it with our cameras. But we cannot always be holding our cameras try as we can. My mind flashes into a scene of me in the bathroom holding a wad of tissue paper on one hand and a camera on the other. Not a pretty sight.

For all the scenes that I did record, I utter “Thank you” to the one above, and for all the missed photo opportunities that came my way, I say another “Thank You” for giving me the eye to recognize these things and keep the scene in the treasure chest of my brain, hoping someday to come across something similar and hopefully capture it.