The Secrets We Hide by Patricia Sands

Author:Patricia Sands [Sands, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Patricia Sands

Chapter 30

The roughness of the bark was unpleasant as Kaito let the ancient cedar hold him up. It even jabbed through the vest he wore over his shirt. It pricked his skin and made him itch. Discomfort poked him back to the present. The flashbacks evaporated.

The resemblance of that woman to Lailani continued to haunt him. She had the same dark curly hair, although now streaked with silver. She was the same height, although slimmer. But it was her eyes … that face …

He berated his mind for playing ghoulish tricks on him.

Walking further along the path, he passed familiar yellow signs warning about the presence of bears. Never having seen one in the ten years he’d been visiting Koyasan, he was more curious than concerned.

Several viewpoints along the way offered opportunities for taking pictures. He’d stopped at them all in the preceding years. This time he had a particular area in mind and reached it after walking another ten minutes.

He began to feel he had pulled himself together, thanks partly to breathing in the intoxicating fragrance of the cedar forest, which energized his senses. He pushed the incident with the woman from his thoughts and set up his equipment.

His hands, slightly disfigured by arthritis, made it difficult at times to steady his camera. Kaito carefully set up his new Nikon on the lightweight travel tripod he unfolded.

Never a man to fixate on possessions, he did love this camera. He still had his trusty old Canon that had served him well for a very long time, but it had become heavy as his hands became less nimble. Finally he had succumbed and was thrilled with his decision. He had treated himself. Possibly for the first time ever.

He focused on a series of three ancient grave markers that he had captured many times before. After reviewing his photo files, Kaito knew he was trying for a specific shot. It had to be timed for precisely when shadows were beginning to fall across these distinctly ornate markers in a particular way as the light filtered through the trees. Such attention to detail pleased his artistic sense.

Now he studied the subtle values and textures of the handsomely carved markers, considering how to also capture the intricate, weathered inscriptions. Visualizing the image he sought, he considered the stones, the light, the shadows, and the background details that he would fade into a soft blur by adjusting the depth of field with his lens setting.

The creative process of capturing an image filled him with satisfaction. He took care positioning the camera, knowing that an inch here or there could dramatically affect the result he sought. He allowed his eye to rove and experiment and he gave thanks to the ancient souls that surrounded him here. Surely those spirits were guiding him.

From studying the work of Ansel Adams, he had come to believe in the term “intuitive rightness”, signifying the moment to release the shutter. It had become visceral to him. He often thought he should apply that to how he lived his life in general.

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