Glass: A hard, brittle substance, typically transparent or translucent, made by fusing sand with soda, lime, and sometimes other ingredients and cooling rapidly. It is used to make windows, drinking containers, and other articles.
Probably not a historic greenhouse.
Our FaceBook photography group has been choosing five different word prompts each week to use as guides for inspiration. We can choose to do all five, just a couple, or fixate on one. I fixate on one.
When I read the word "glass" on the tiny slip of paper, I immediately wondered where I could go. Then like divine intervention a place jumped to the forefront of my mind. The city greenhouse, with all its wonderful curves, chippy paint, and glass.
We choose new prompts every Sunday. It took me until the following Sunday to finally get out and shoot. The week had seemed to conspire against me. First, on Sunday our furnace died, and I mean death died. Our furnace technician got it going enough for what I called "weak heat" until the new furnace could be installed on Thursday. We got our first snow and truly cold weather; grateful for that weak heat. Also, I seemed to have some morning obligation each day which prevented me from going to shoot.
Finally a week later, I stepped out of my car on a snowless and slightly warmer Sunday morning and set up my tripod. The conditions were perfect for the vision I had for the glass greenhouse.
While I was there with my camera and tripod, I had two different people stop and talk to me. The greenhouse is a popular backdrop for wedding photos, engagement photos and senior pictures. But I don't think people often see a lone photographer decked out head to toe in winter apparel, using a tripod, on an early Sunday morning. I was encouraged by the conversations, even as the battery drained away on my camera. Often the outing is about more than getting the shots.
