Fear and Serendipity at Yale

Hitting the road for another school accreditation visit, this time in Baltimore, I again found myself wanting (needing?) a break on the drive home to Cape Cod. My go-to in recent trips has been the Yale Art Gallery, which currently has a terrific exhibit of documentary photography by W. Eugene Smith from the mid-20th century. The exhibition is on display through December 6.

While perusing Smith’s photographs in an empty gallery, I couldn’t help but notice the lovely young security guard who clearly saw me as no threat. While I’m pretty fearless in street photography portraiture, this was a bit more intimate, and I hesitated to talk with her. Nonetheless I introduced myself and asked to make her portrait if it wouldn’t get her in trouble with the powers-that-be. She agreed, so I gave her my business card and out came the iPhone(for a 4-day trip I didn’t bring the Big Black Camera, but now I wished I had!). Finding a suitable backdrop I managed to capture a couple of reasonable images in fairly low light.

The results, before and after, are here. I sent her the images today, I hope that she’s pleased. Serendipity, finding an interesting and willing subject in the unlikeliest of places, what a gift.

Before and After