Angel Torres

Time is short but that’s all right
Maybe I’ll go out in the middle of the night
Take your hands from your eyes, my love 
Because all good things must come to an end some time
Don’t burn the day away

                         – Dave Matthews Band, Pig

I last saw him on Friday. He was attempting, and succeeding, at scaring the living bejesus out of me. While we chatted and joked, these lyrics came through my speakers. This song makes me cry every time I hear it. I struggle with my appreciation for time. For how quickly it can get away from me. I usually need to search for this song and beg my iPod to play it for me. While we chatted and joked, these lyrics came through my speaker. It seems appropriate that as I pulled away from Angel, leaving him in the rearview mirror, these lyrics were coming through my speakers.

Yesterday morning, Angel went into the hospital. He had emergency surgery on his heart. And last night, Angel Torres died.

Angel is the only person I have ever been wrong about, and I love that he has that distinction. My first instinct was to not like him. And then with his smile, his laugh, the way he always called me Wifey, and later, Lady, he quickly worked his way into my heart. He bacame one of my favorite people. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that one of my favorite people is now gone.

Our life consists of being a part of a tight fishing community. We belong to a rag tag family otherwise known as the Fishin’ Franks family.  Our family is in a lot of pain today. The fishing community has lost an amazing captain, but more importantly, an amazing man.

I am forever thankful for the Christmas party we attended on Thursday night. For the opportunity, after not seeing him for far too long, to spend some time with my friend. For laughing and talking and joking with my friend. I am forever thankful for the memory of the hug goodbye that night.

Yesterday, I baked Angel a batch of some of his favorite cookies. I have a bag of cookies sitting on my counter for my friend. I don’t know what to do with them…

 

drive-by blogging

Hi!

Bye!

two shots

Sometimes, as a photographer, you don’t get many chances at getting “the shot”. Yesterday, I got only two chances at getting the photo I wanted.

I stumbled upon the perfect photo. A fly  a favorite subject of mine) on a milkweed. The color of the fly, the color of the flowers in addition to the silk of the seeds- perfect! I was faced with two obstacles: 1. it was windy. Wind + macro = blur. 2. the fly itself. Flies tend to be, well, flighty 😉 I get super close to my subjects, and with insects that can be a tricky thing to pull off without scaring them away.

Shot 1 (this shot is SOOC -straight out of camera)

Obviously, this shot was a failure. The fly is clearly not in focus. Also, once I was looking through the viewfinder I realized I wanted the next shot to be positioned differently. I wanted the blue to be a bit more prominant in the shot.

Shot 2- success!

and right after I pressed the shutter? The fly flew away 🙂 If I had a third chance, I would have played with getting the blue sky a bit more. It was tricky getting the blue- behind this plant is a starfruit tree. The blue was coming through a gap in the branches- with the gap constantly changing as the wind blew.

For only having two chances, I would say things worked out great!