Monday, December 8, 2008


ser·en·dip·i·ty (sěr'ən-dĭp'ĭ-tē)

  1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
  2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.
  3. An instance of making such a discovery.
The day matched the image. Bitter cold and an approaching snowstorm. The texture of the old gravestones intrigued me. I bent low to get a closeup of the rough surface of the century old stone. The camera I used was an old SLR so I developed the image in my darkroom. As the image began to crystallize, there it was...the black cat! Serendipity. The cat was not intended but certainly added to the stereotypical graveyard shot.

7 comments:

_we_the_pieces_ said...

What an amazing photograph...
(=

Dan Felstead said...

Thank you we the pieces....I thought I would post something different for a change of pace.

Dan

Heather said...

Dan, I looked at this and felt a shiver. Honestly, it's not much different outside my window than the weather in this photo.

I read your lines and thought, "What cat?", "there must be a cat here"...hmmmm. I clicked on the photo and it enlarged perfectly...there he was.

I really appreciate your eyes; such a gift to you and to all of us that you share with.

~Heather

Dan Felstead said...

Heather,
I don't do much with film any more but I miss it. That was part of the fun...watching a picture appear before your eyes in a darkroom after you have taken it. The anticipation is something I miss with digital. You have the instant gratification but what do they say? "All good things come to those who wait"!

Dan

nishaa said...

This is such a chilling photograph..Maybe because it signifies our Ultimate Destination...Billionaire or pauper,man or woman,black or white,this is our Final Destination.
Death-The greatest leveller of all,the greatest equaliser of all.No-one has or ever will escape the Black Cat of Death.

Dan Felstead said...

Nishaa,
Perhaps the cat was the grim reaper in disguise...watching me. Oh, I don't want to think about it!

Dan

Anonymous said...

I live by serendipity. It's my favorite word. Thanks for sharing this beautiful shot and yes, the black cat (symbol of bad luck) surely adds to the otherwise inanimate message. In this case, the cat was your good luck.