Inside Cappello’s Auto Repair

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From time to time I become paralyzed. I want to go out and shoot but I can’t think of anything worthy of picture taking. Part of it is laziness. I can’t immediately think of anywhere clever to go so I find excuses not to go out and shoot. It’s too early. The light’s not right. The weather might be bad etc. When I force myself to go out I always enjoy it. There are picture taking opportunities everywhere, even in the most mundane places. I just have to go out somewhere (doesn’t really matter where) and look for the opportunities.

A case in point. I went to my regular automotive service station: Cappello’s Auto Repair in Ossining, NY. As an aside they’re really great. We’ve been using them for about 14 years and I can’t imagine anyone better. Back to the story. I was going into NY city to meet up with some friends. One of my headlights was out and I wanted it to be fixed before I drove back home in the dark. I had also noticed that I was having to top up coolant rather more than normal and suspected a coolant leak somewhere. One of the Cappello brothers (there seem to be a lot of them) said that it would take about 10 minutes to change the light bulb. However, on checking for the coolant leak he figured out that there was a crack in the radiator and it would have to be replaced. After a few calls he determined that fixing everything would take about two hours. As this would still allow me enough time to get into the city I told them to go ahead.

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A tale of two ceiling fans

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Here the fan is a secondary player. I was lying on the sofa in our living room reading and I happened to look up. I was struck by the pattern of light cast by a table lamp onto the ceiling. The fan just adds a bit of visual variety to the image.

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Again a chance image. I was having lunch at a nearby restaurant: Holy Smoke – it’s a great barbecue place with a large selection of beers, many of which I’d never heard of. I was waiting for my food to arrive and playing with my camera. I glanced around to see if there was anything “picture worthy”. Eventually I looked up and saw the fan with its static light fixtures and spinning blades. It took a few different shutter speeds before I got the kind of blur that I wanted.