Views Of A Villa

A comfortably warm Sunday evening. I’m sitting on the back patio at the coffeehouse when I notice how the setting sun is illuminating the upper part of the building across the street.



I set up my small tripod and compact digital camera to capture the scene. The building has always been a mystery with its distinctive façade, the brickwork and therounded archways evoking the image of an old Spanish villa. No other buildings in downtown Plattsburgh resemble this one. It’s so out of place; how did this architectural style end up here?



The reddish sunlight striking the building creates the illusion that the viewer is in Spain. The light changes as the sun disappears. Some of the tenants come out and hang around.



When editing the images on my computer it’s obvious that a few of the tenants were aware of my shooting. They look right at the camera.




And it appears at extreme magnification that one tenant didn’t like me capturing her image. (Or maybe she’s telling a joke to her friends.) Maybe I should have yelled out: “Hey, I’m a photo-hobbyist, not a CIA agent!”