Before the Horses

This was a trip to Los Angeles when I was living in the mountains during Covid, to see a nice woman I was seeing at the time. This photo was incredibly unplanned and remains a favorite. I was waiting for her outside of Trader Joe's, parked in front of these carts. I think this was the first roll of film I had put in my then-new (to me) Olympus Trip, and it happened to be the perfect film stock. The reds pop so nicely on Portra 400, especially in that perfect LA light. It was just a normal scene on a normal day, and I happened to have a 50-year-old camera loaded with the perfect film. I love a good scouted photo, or a planned series, or photos that talk to each other — but sometimes I get lucky and just take a picture of some dumb shopping carts, and when I get the contact sheet back I'm pleasantly surprised. There's no chance I even remembered making this picture until I saw the result. I was just waiting for a woman to buy (probably alcohol) and tried my new old camera out.