Figure it out.

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I think it’s weird how I can never predict who comes and goes in my life. I get to set some rules, of course, but nothing past I really like her, he gets on my nerves, or if someone eats my pound cake again, I’m going to lose it. I think that the lack of decision-making in friendships presents an interesting situation. How will this person change my life? I’m probably thinking too hard.

Chris brandishes a screwdriver—at that very moment my heart sank. It was prematurely decided, at least to myself, that this mission was a failure. We did it on a whim; so, the sadness is dull, but it’s a let down nonetheless. Chris is entirely too quiet. We’re not supposed to be here admittedly, but even so, Chris manages to be too quiet in a library. I don’t hear him say he’s got this but that hope I let go of earlier finds its way back. I hear metal scraping as he drives at the screws, Owen’s taken a regal pose on the staircase below checking his phone, while Wei offers Chris tools and suggestions as he presses on with his objective. The hatch swings open and crashes on the upper story that we fear will reveal our heist. As we move up the inclined ladder, Chris leading the way after a door well opened, I reach around to dap him up. The elevation we are at is undoubtedly off limits. From this height, the soaring skyscraper synonymous with Boston’s cityscape is nauseatingly close. We can make out our tiny image in a window, some four hundred feet above street level. The altitude does not deter our intrepid party but mystifies us. Equally mystifying is the justification for a rock bed floor this high up. We kick stones as we slowly saunter closer to the edges of this daring height. I notice a cloud behind us, on the other side the building, slowly increasing in size. A better descriptor, I realize, is that a raincloud is rapidly approaching. I can’t warn anyone before our crew is buffeted by frigid raindrops – ice pellet hybrids. After a certain point, the distinction is irrelevant. It’s raining.

Our view is clouded, in the most literal sense by the weather system rolling across our otherwise rather lovely spring day. We fight the elements with vigor as we shoot through the weather conditions. Our adventure does not come without a time limit. The failure of a mission is ultimately running into the man, so we try to get the most of what we can see and make ourselves scarce. I still don’t believe thirty minutes passed. As the cloud clears and permits vision once again, the timely setting sun paints the dampened sky and looming clouds in a brilliant hue of warm colors. I am easily seeing the most remarkable sunset I have ever born witness to from a ridiculous view. I say it again just to make sure. I hear Chris belt a syllable over the winds to get my attention. Yo! I snap back around to face the reflective building at 200 Clarendon and I must admit I had not seen anything yet.

The prized seven colors in all their glory rose above the building in a rather heavenly arc overhead. I was not struck with true amazement until after I instinctively captured a few shots. Faint yet ever present, like a watermark to a priceless moment, a second rainbow shone below the first. We saw all that and got out in thirty minutes?

Despite Chris relocating to a spot right outside Cambridge, getting to Allston wasn’t always easy. Driving in the city is a pain. But on a day following our regular traditions at his place, we sat in awed review of contemporary photography in books gifted to him by his father. Chris let out a deep breath and vented out his all when I asked him if he thinks our work will ever receive recognition. There’s a haze in the air, a reminder that summer is better spent with the windows open wide. I keep the peace and take a moment to inhale and exhale before he speaks. He doesn’t mince words. “Your work is unreal. I can’t see portraits with the 50mm the way you do. I’ve shown my dad your work and he’s never seen anything like it before – the way you capture scenes. You’ll be fine. Easy.” I can’t stand hearing grandiose things like that about my work, my ears and face end up on fire, and I can’t help but feel like I’m blushing like a baby. It’s nerve-wracking because I really look up to his appreciation for the art. This is an individual who easily takes photos for his pleasure at any time of day. If he has a rationale and plan in mind for an image, Chris will drive any distance stateside, at any hour, day or night. The kid who easily puts more work into than I have ever considered for photography, with backup from his published film photographer of several years is reassuring me I have potential in my photos. I already feel like I’m famous.

Our road trips don’t make any sense. At least, our road trips aren’t all planned by me, but I’m typically the first seat taken. I mean I wouldn’t get anywhere without Chris, considering he always has calculated plans of attack for unique locations. It usually depends on what we want to visit. No matter the scene or season, I will go with him anywhere. Although, I was the last to hear about our trip to Chicago admittedly. I didn’t like the prospect of that, so I almost booked a flight during the wait time for them to explain the plan. I’d gone quiet, and our normal means of communicating our travel plans went ignored, so that much was expected. After tuning in, I realized it was a trip I could and would make, because an opportunity like this does not present itself often. Adulthood comes with an unseen weight, the gravity of all the opportunities we pass dragging underneath the heights of the risks take. Life’s ups and downs are not unique to you. Chris is an excellent influence because despite my ‘incessant complaining’, something I rarely even do, Chris never fails to share a polite reminder that I need to ‘figure it out’. I don’t think there’s a single road trip where he did not refresh my memory.

The hotel mission in Chicago was another success led by Chris. It’s not an unreasonable assumption to say Chris typically leads me to success. I climb up the ladder behind him, stunned by my surroundings under the overcast Chicago winter sky, and make way as Max and Temi join us. The four of us had no intention of meeting with the man today either. A helicopter patrolling the air ways overheard buffeted us with a warning that we were not the only ones with a decent view. Precautious and mute as ever, Chris hissed at us to hustle before we did in fact fail to reach our objective.

I did not hesitate to fire several times, at Chris, Max and Temi alike, capturing candid portraiture of the best friends and enthusiasts a guy could go on a trip with. A line from another contemporary, Sam, comes to mind. I’m pretty sure the tweet says something along the lines of my rhetoric. I would never go to a new city and not go on a roof. I can’t say many people feel this way, but I shake my head and smile because he is not lying. I would never.

Chris is a part of my family. I completely trust him leading me anywhere, because whatever it is, the photos will be worth it. But trust me, when I first met him, I would not have said that. I mean you can’t just say that about anyone. One develops a bond or goes through a trial, a spirit quest, or some other contrived friendship ritual. I’m no medicine man, but I’m certain passion is our chicken bone and feathers. Photography, elicits this response in us both, a fit of passion to transform the images our eyes perceive, into frames that share our view of things with everyone else. I’m very unsure what else I’d do if I didn’t take pictures. I am pretty sure he changed my life.

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Category	cityscapephotography and landscapephotography
Settings	Various ISO - Various f/stops
Camera	EOS Canon 6D
Question	Does color contribute to the beauty of these photos? Let's hear it. I will pay you.
Location	Boston, Massachusetts

I went all out.

^{My favorite piece this month.}