Chalé Holmes

I was asked by a buddy to take some pictures of another friend of ours. Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE to lay low and not run around. The idea of being in public and accessible for conversation lightweight freaks me out these days. I really dislike frivolous conversation, maybe I'll get to the why at a later point.

My buddy knew I didn't want any part of being out and about but he hit me with the ace card, "I know you don't want to do it but I'm asking you for a favor". This guy has provided a bunch of favors throughout the course of our friendship but it's always more than what is owed that gets me to move. We all have certain bonds and there's an unspoken rule amongst our group more often than not.

It's within the moments when I don't want to do something where lessons are learned. I didn't want to shoot, I didn't want to be hot, I didn't want to be out in the "open", but there I was smiling whilst watching my buddy transform into his alter ego, Chale Holmes.

I'll take a moment to explain to anyone who hasn't performed before, that pre performance is the time when one must find their inner self and calm far too many parts of the outside world. You have friends who want to hangout, family who want to be backstage, random randos who know someone who know someone, perpetual line crossers, and that one employee who should be working but is just there lurking and throwing your energy off a bit.

As I quietly sat in the dressing room, waiting for my buddy to arrive, it took me back to past times in life when I would patiently/quietly sit in the back of the room and observe the aforementioned interactions take place around an artist who for the most part probably just wanted to be left alone.

My buddy arrived and I could almost tell immediately, that he needed to find his space and without fail, he said, "Hey, bro, can you give me a few minutes..." I'm the person most people call in because I operate as a fly on the wall and in this case, I buzzed out of the room to allow my buddy to transform into Chalé.

Transformer - Nemi

No sooner had I left the room, I found myself back in the room asking if he was ready to allow me to fire off a few frames on the trusty camera. There was an expression of gratitude for the time which I allowed him to have and for me there was an understanding reached.

I forgot how much I dislike being out in the open, out in a crowd but there I was with cameras in hand, capturing moments of magic, all the while being invisible to my buddy. No clue what his future holds but I will tell you, within those moments of time, I remembered why I purchased a camera.