As I decelerated preparing to brake for the right turn onto my street one morning, I heard an explosive SHOT. I wasn’t sure if something had flown up and hit my CR-V or if it was a tire, or some other type of mechanical failure. I immediately took my foot off the gas – the vehicle was still handling okay as far as I could tell – and I didn’t see any bodies or car parts laying in the roadway behind me when I glanced in the rearview mirror. I gingerly continued on, making the right turn just another 50 feet ahead of me. I accelerated up the slight hill, hit the button for the garage door and pulled into the middle of the garage. Opening the door and hopping out I heard the telltale “hissssssssss…” of a tire. Little did I know that this would be the start of my best selling image on iStockPhoto to date.
It was December 16th, 2010. I had just dropped Andrew off at his elementary school and stopped at Bloom for a few groceries. My husband was at work. There was a light dusting of snow predicted, and I was now stuck at home without my wheels. At least I had made it home! Better the car be in the garage than along the road. I called my husband and told him the good news, and then settled in to spend the rest of the day at home. As I was putting the groceries away, I got thinking, maybe this could be a photo opportunity at least.
So, after getting a few chores done around the house, I went downstairs and got my camera and attached my 70-300mm lens. Since the truck was in the garage, I knew I wouldn’t have good light, but I didn’t think it was worth dragging my flashes out too. I mean, how exciting could a flat tire be? I just grabbed my tripod and a white reflector card and headed out to the garage. I opened the garage door again to let in more light, which provided a strong backlight, especially with the lightly falling snow. Definitely need that fill card. I set my camera up, took about 10 shots, one of the later being this one at 12:40PM. Time for lunch.
And that was how my first flame came into being! And here it is:
Oh, in case you are wondering “What the heck is a flame?” – it means that the image has been downloaded at least 100 times. iStockphoto puts little flames of different colors over images that have exceeded certain download milestones.
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