Leo believed that good things came in twos.
(Or however the saying goes. A friend had corrected him once; Leo chose to remain ignorant.)
I.
When he was in his teens, it only took two rolls of film for him to believe that photography was something he was genuinely interested in. He had stolen his father’s camera during a family gathering and took pictures as he went. Relatives were caught by surprise, friends smiled goofily at the camera--all until his father had asked for it back, at least.
The results after developing said rolls weren’t exactly the best for a kid. Shots were blurry, people were caught in unflattering moments, certain things were out of frame, and a bunch of other mistakes that were forgivable at his age. Regardless, the sight of the pictures and the sentiment behind them was enough to convince Leo that it would be a passion he would invest in for the entirety of his life.
The pictures remain in a dusty, yellowing album until this very day.
II.
It takes two jobs to actually fund his love for photography.
The first job was a run-of-the-mill, nine-to-five ordeal that kept him within an office five days a week. It wasn’t all that special. Leo had worked in the Human Resources department of this one company, looking over prospective applicants and doing interviewing here and there. None of it was particularly memorable, but he did what he had to did in order to earn himself some kind of living. After all, photography wasn’t necessarily the best career work path straight out of college. Something had to pay for the electricity, rent, water, and his basic necessities while he managed to live in the one-bedroom apartment.
The second job was something he barely considered a job at all. Leo attempted to get his name out there by doing simple, freelance photography. He first did work for family, covering events at a minimal fee. There were some quinceañeras he willingly covered; other times a wedding or birthday or two that relatives were willing to book and pay him for. His skills, alongside his bright and encouraging personality, often resulted in nicer pictures than they could even ask for. The same pictures would hang up in homes or would be kept inside older and yellower family albums to be looked back on fondly as the years would pass.
With whatever experience and photographs that he has, Leo establishes his own website under a particular domain. It’s nothing special; there are photos laid out cleanly on a webpage with rates and contact details on another.
Both jobs manage to help him out. Leo invests in lenses and equipments as the years pass, looks into a better post-processing program to make his work even better. But family events start to dwindle down along the line, and the office job begins to demand more after he secures a better position.
He wonders when things would get better.
III.
Two major upgrades (purchasing an additional camera and finally using purchased programs) down the line, Leo is contacted by a different kind of client.
He’s heard about META. He’s picked up some of their stuff from time to time. He’s seen the photographs that they’ve featured in a couple of their issues. He wouldn’t necessarily call himself impressed.
Nevertheless, when he checks his email on a slow Wednesday morning, he can’t help but blink and refresh the page when he sees an email from one of the people who worked there. In short, they needed a photographer for this one shoot. They list details, payment (which he is open to negotiate), and we’d love to hear from you soon!
Leo tries not to get his hopes up and tries to convince himself that it was just a simple job with nothing else happening. His photos would probably be featured online at best and they would move on, he would move on, and he would be stuck at his desk job until an offer would come two, three months down the line if he were lucky.
It happens two weeks after. Within those two weeks he meets Ezra Tully, a stoic writer for the company who laid out his ideas and asked for comments and feedback. Leo shoots back, Ezra raises a brow, and what is supposed to be an hour-long meeting turns into two hours. The meeting meets its end when they’ve finished their second, third mug of coffee (each) and after they’ve managed to come to some kind of conclusion. Leo isn’t sure what he thinks of the other man. There’s a certain calm and cool about him, but also some detachment.
Leo wonders if he even cares about the shoot to begin with.
To his surprise, Ezra regards him with a quick, but warm smile.
“I like you,” he admits plainly. A beat, “I’ll see you this weekend.”
Leo shows up that weekend. The shoot happens.
Two weeks after the shoot, he receives another email from META.
He quits his desk job two days after.
IV.
Ezra and Iris. Iris and Ezra.
Ezra, as he found out later on, was more than a stoic and detached writer. As he worked with the quiet man more and more, Leo found that it was simply his attitude towards writing. Ezra had explained it once; on a slow morning, he had explained that he had to maintain a certain level of detachment over his assignments. “Your biases might get in the way. And in this line of business, I can’t necessarily have that happen. But I know you disagree,” he added afterwards, mouth quirking just a bit. Leo manages a laugh after, reminded of their (reasonable) argument during their first meeting session.
After the first shoot and after Leo starts working for META, the two are constantly paired with one another. Ezra later admits that Leo’s the best person he’s worked with; all the other photographers never really challenged his ideas. “But don’t get too smug.”
Iris Hu, on another hand, was all kinds of warmth and fuzziness. Ezra had introduced her to him during one of the company-wide lunches, mentioning Iris as one of the interns who had been paired with him for an assignment or two. He mentions her fines and skill, mentions how she had impressed as early as day one. Iris merely flushes and slaps Ezra’s arm, and Leo--
Leo thinks she’s really, really pretty.
Iris regards him with a kind smile and insists that she wasn’t that great, that there were better writers. Leo is only able to fumble out a hey if Ezra says you’re good, then you must be really good because he hates everyone else and she laughs while Ezra tries not to look too affronted at the banter. They talk later on and manage to get a private moment in during lunch; she mentions a keen interest in investigative journalism and talks to him about current issues, asks for input regarding a stance or two. Leo answers as smoothly as he can. The smile on Iris’ face only grows more.
(He’s more than a little whipped when Ezra collects him for their next assignment.)
V.
Leo believed that good things came in twos.
Iris Hu is officially declared deceased two months after they return to London.
(He stopped believing in the saying after that.)
No comments:
Post a Comment