riverviewlogs | i fight for every life

(Well, she promised Jim she'd let him know her schedule; she sends him the message that same afternoon, and they pick out a day that works for the both of them to get stuck into some makeshift photography lessons. Lucretia's getting ready to leave her place to come meet Jim, when something occurs to her, and she pauses by the door to fish her phone out of her pocket.)

Do I need to bring anything in particular along with me?

(He's bringing quite a lot of equipment after all, so it seems pertinent to ask!)

[ Jim's already on his way to their meeting point when she texts him, and he stops so he can grab his phone and text back. ]

Some ideas and your cute self. ;) Don't worry, I've got it all covered.

[ He gets where she's coming from, but really, he'd offered, so she doesn't need to worry about this. The supplies weren't that expensive anyway, and he doesn't mind taking care of it at all.

Putting his phone away, he adjusts his backpack and resumes his way towards the park in the city center, so they can meet by the river as they'd agreed. ]

(That makes her laugh.)

Rodger. See you in a bit

(Lucretia's glad they had both decided upon the river: she hasn't confided this yet in Jim, but it's her favourite place to go in the Quarantine. She meets him bang on the time they decided upon; they're by the bank, and she's greeting him with a smile, a little wiggle of her fingers. She's pretty excited about this.)

Hey!

[ Usually when he meets someone for a walk, it's his go-to location for meeting up. Easy to spot people there, and easy to get there too, even for newcomers.

He looks around for Lucretia, greeting her with a wave of his own, smiling as she makes her way over to him. ]

Hi! Hope you're full of ideas for today. Oh, I didn't prepare the cameras so I can teach you how to load the film too.

I've got a couple up my sleeve.

(More will come to her as they go. They always do.

Speaking of ideas– she reaches into her shoulder bag, pulling it around so she can rummage through it and briefly pull out a journal, bound with a rubber band. It's full almost to bursting, and it's clear the rubber band is helping to keep it close where the book has otherwise long since failed.)

I brought you some light reading material, as promised.

[ Jim lets out a happy little hum, smiling as he accepts the journal. ]

Wow. Thanks. That's— a lot of stuff. [ He chuckles a bit, finding it cute. It fits the mental image he has of Lucretia, too. For obvious reasons he's not going to try to open it here, so instead he puts it away in his own bag, pulling out a second camera for Lucretia, while his own hangs around his neck. Then he digs out a couple of films from another pocket in his backpack. ]

Here, [ He hands her the camera and one of the films, motioning for her to follow him as he takes a seat on a bench nearby. ] I'll load my film and show you how to do it, then you can do the same yourself.

No problem. It's an older one of mine, but I think you'll like it.

(Lucretia had received it from the ice maze over Hygge, and had enjoyed going back through it, familiarising herself with an earlier cycle.

With that handed off, she takes the camera and film from him, turning the camera over in her hands to inspect as she crosses to sit with him on the bench. As tempting as it is to start fiddling around, she should probably wait for further instruction. Lucretia dutifully averts her attention to the camera around his neck.)

Gotcha. The film is in here? (She shakes the little tube, listening to the film rattle inside.)

[ Jim nods. He has no doubt he will enjoy it, even if it's not a recent one. Just looking at how full of information it is already leaves him looking forward to the opportunity of sitting down and leafing through it properly. ]

Yes, that's right. Now, step one: open the chamber. [ He fits the lens between his knees so he can hold the camera in place, then pulls the rewind lever up, so the back of the camera pops open, and he lifts it up to reveal the chamber. ]

You fit the film on this side, [ He points to the film compartment, showing her how to secure and lock the film casing into place. ] Then you need to tug some of the film out so you can get it into the take-up spool on the other end.

[ He waits and gives her some time to do what he did, keeping an eye to see if she needs help with anything. ]

(Lucretia hesitates to lean quite close, but eventually she has to, just so she can see a little better. She glances down at the camera in her lap, then at his, then back at her own, comparing. Eventually she manages to pop the back open too. Jim is fitting the film into the camera, so she stops mucking about to watch with great interest, flicking her thumbnail against the lid of the canister of film in her hand.)

... Got it.

(Maybe? She pops the lid off the canister and slots the tube into place in the camera as he had, but she seems reluctant to tug the film out.)

It's okay to pull it? (She's not gonna damage it, right. Without waiting for an answer, she gives the end a little tug until it inches out, bit by bit. She tucks the end into the spool as he had, then takes a moment to look back and forth between his camera and her own. Seems good to her.)

Oh, yes, of course. The film's pretty long, so you don't need to worry about ruining just a little bit. You kind of have to, so you can reel it in while you're taking pictures.

[ He leans back a little and watches as she repeats the process, nodding as she finishes up and looks between their cameras. ]

Looks good. Now, to make sure it's secured, and so you know for sure you're using unexposed film in your photographs, you close the chamber again, pull the lever to advance the film, then shoot. Couple of times, like this. [ He does exactly as he describes, the film being rolled into the spool with each pull of the lever. ]

And there, it's ready now. You have to pull the lever once for each picture, then it's ready to shoot. The setting's automatic, so you don't have to worry about exposure levels and shutter speed. I'll teach you about those later. For now you only need to learn how to focus the lens before taking the photo.

(It seems inefficient to ruin any bit of it, but if that's how it works... Lucretia shrugs, and snaps the chamber shut again, pushing the lever around with her thumb as instructed. She likes the sounds the whole process makes, as strange as that sounds. Satisfying clicks and whirrs, little clunks of everything coming together.

She takes a couple shots of nothing, and advances the film along.)

Okay. How do I do that? (She lifts the camera to look through the viewfinder, watching the river meander lazily through it for a moment. Oh, she's gonna take so many pictures of water and flowers and shit like that. Excellent.)

[ Jim watches and listens to those same telling sounds with a smile, giving her a satisfactory nod. ]

That's great. You're doing better than me during my first try, I've got to tell you.

[ He can't even remember how many films he ruined at first, not closing the chamber properly or just not locking the film into place and reeling it in safely. But everyone learns from their mistakes, and Jim's no different. ]

There's a ring on the lens— [ He reaches for the lens on her camera, shifting it around so she can see the image focusing and unfocusing. ] Called focus ring. You move it around until the image on the little circle on the center is lined up with the rest of the picture, and you're good. Usually for landscapes you don't have to change the focus, but you have to adjust it when you switch to closeups.

There are some cameras and lenses that have autofocus, too. Your phone camera can do that, for instance.

You're a good teacher.

(She isn't saying that just because she feels she should either; he is very methodical in his explanations, and it's precisely the way Lucretia likes to learn. Very helpful.)

Another point of difference between manual and digital? (She lifts the camera up to his face, peers through the viewfinder and fiddles carefully with the lens until his features come into sharp focus. There's something really satisfying about that, about doing it yourself. Lucretia has always loved working with her hands.

She lowers the camera, and smiles.)

What sort of things do you take photographs of?

Thanks. I try.

[ He's just trying to take it step by step, remembering the things he had difficulty with when he first learned how to use one of these. She's very bright and picks up on things pretty fast too, though, that definitely helps. ]

Depends on the camera, but professional digital cameras still offer you the option of focusing manually. [ He smiles when she lifts the camera up to his face. Evidently he's not shy about people taking pictures of him. ]

People, mostly. I love taking pictures of people. But other stuff, too. A little bit of everything, really.

(Oh, so he isn't! In that case–

Lucretia raises her camera back up to his smiling face and snaps a picture. Then, she has to take a moment to look down and figure out how to advance the film along again, but it only takes a few seconds before she remembers to pull the little level across. Easy.)

Sure. I'd love to have something like this so I could take pictures of things that I'd like to paint later. That way I wouldn't have to draw from memory quite so much.

[ And immediately Jim pulls off his best smile, although to be fair, it doesn't take a lot of effort for him to look good on a picture, and he damn well knows it. ]

Oh, I like drawing. Can't say I've ever actually painted anything, though. [ He gestures around them. ] So— which idea should we go with first?

[ A word, an idea, even a quote or a song. Anything would do. ]

(Aw! Lucretia beams in return, and then abruptly remembers there's no way to check what the photo looks like until she learns how to develop film. She frowns, rubbing her thumb over the back of the camera where a display would have been if it were digital.)

I love painting, (she says idly, looking up automatically for inspiration,) it's very comforting when it isn't deeply frustrating– uh, how about...

(Quotes would be nice, but she has nothing to hand to pull from. There's her journal... but that feels a little embarrassing.) Maybe a word? You could pick one for me, and I'll pick one for you.

[ That's one thing that takes a bit of getting used to, but from what little he knows about her, Jim has a feeling she'll find the same kind of thrill as he does when he develops a film and finally gets to see the pictures he took, and how they came out. Patience is a learned trait in this instance, though.

Jim nods, already starting to think of a word for her. ]

Alright. What's mine, then?

(Noooo Jim, don't make her go first. Lucretia hums, tapping her fingers on the sides of her camera.)

Okay. Your word is... telluric.

(Sure it's kinda generic, but she likes to think there's room to interpret it poetically. Or literally, whichever he'd like to choose.) Mine?

[ Jim hums and nods, sounding almost impressed. ]

Oh, I like that. Very... sophisticated.

[ Generic too, but he'll manage. He gives his own choice some thought, before deciding on a word for her. ] Threshold.

Threshold, (she echoes, smiling minutely. Yeah. She likes it.)

That's a good one. Should we set maybe a week to take our various shots?

Great. A week it is, then. We'll get together and develop the films, see what we came up with.

[ For good measure, he hands her two extra films, so she can use them throughout the week. He doubts one will be enough, once she starts to get the hang of it. ]

On the house. [ He shrugs. ] Anyway, wanna go for a walk and snap a few?

(She takes the film gratefully, surprised by his generosity.)

Thank you, Jim.

(Hopefully she can produce something from all this that won't make him regret giving it all to her!) Sounds good. I'd better get in some practice now if I'm going to beat you at this photo taking thing.

(wink!)

i fight for every life

for @winscenario ♡

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