The Bassist

Image by
Christopher E. Runfola
MEMS Technician

While walking around Balboa Park on a gorgeous San Diego morning, I heard beautiful music coming from the Casa Del Prado patio. I decided to walk over to see what was going on. As I approached, I could see many people seated in front of a makeshift stage on which musicians were performing various genres of music; apparently, this was some sort of fundraising event. The music was very relaxing and inspirational, yet I didn’t feel compelled to photograph anything in particular. As I made my way to the back of the stage, I noticed a bass player practicing and plucking away on the strings and knew immediately that this was the shot to take. I leaned up against a pillar, framed the bassist in the viewfinder, and adjusted the shutter to give me a slower speed in which I could attempt some slow-shutter techniques. The first shot, though framed nicely, didn’t quite look the way I had pictured it in my mind. So I tried again. And again. When I saw the third shot on my camera’s monitor, I knew immediately that I had achieved the result I was striving for. This, in my opinion, was the decisive moment in which I learned to “paint with a lens”, and the moment in which I grew as an artist.
Chris Runfola