Katherine

Tonight was beyond frustrating to begin with.

I've long accepted that street photography can be frustrating with its unpredictability. You don't get far with it without acknowledging and accepting that.

Tonight, though, felt like the universe was actively working against me.

It isn't just seeing a potential subject with whom I'd have no chance of closing distance. That happens with every outing, honestly, and I mutter under my breath my frustration with that a lot. It's another reality you need to accept and acknowledge.

But what made it feel like the universe was against me tonight goes beyond that. It's a potential subject walking my direction, only for them to turn off at an intersection and opening distance I'd have no chance of closing unless I run after them.

Another potential subject standing at an intersection and the pedestrian light changing just as I'm closing distance to them, leaving me with the choice of walking the same direction as them or going a different direction. With the choice often being the latter depending on where that happens and where I had already considered going.

Or a subject getting into a car or walking into a building just as I get to them. (I got very lucky with Nina on the latter.)

And all of that repeating. Multiple. Times. Over.

It isn't nearly as frustrating if I'm able to find and photograph someone pretty quickly after I park - i.e., within the first about 20 or so minutes. Something that does happen pretty regularly. But when I'm walking through an area for over an hour and have yet to actually photograph someone... that's where it starts to feel like the entire outing will be a miss.

Complicating things tonight was... I had a prior commitment scheduled for 8:30pm CDT, so I couldn't be out nearly as long. And having already burned an hour when Katherine entered my sights, I was already thinking she would also be getting way from me.

She paused at the corner while walking South on the West side of Baltimore toward 12th. Long hair. Purple top. Tall... The cup in her hand looked familiar - Made in KC cafe. And the pedestrian light didn't need to hold her for long, just long enough.

She jettisoned the cup into a trash can while walking toward the next pedestrian light at 12th and Main. Which also didn't need to hold her for long, again just long enough. Just long enough that I was able to close distance to talk to her.

Turning around what was, till then, a very frustrating outing.

She's also a working model. Her Instagram: @phoenix_flying