Racing the light

红色来了，天空变亮了。把相机放低六英寸，调整三脚架。还是没到。再往左移一英尺。再次调整支架。三脚架头上的水平摄像机。把镜头调到八倍。估计景深，通过超焦技术最大化景深。拧入快门按钮上的拉线释放装置。太阳从地平线上升起40%，桥上的旧漆变成了温暖的红色，这正是他想要的。

左胸口袋里的拿出测光表。检查8倍镜头一下。一秒钟的曝光时间，但柯达彩色相机在这个极限下也能保持得很好。透过窗户取景器。微调相机的水平。他按下快门按钮，等待一秒钟的时间过去。

就在他按下快门的一刹那，一个东西吸引了他的目光。他又从取景器里看了一遍。“桥的入口处挂着什么鬼东西？”他嘟囔着。“一张纸。昨天不是还没有吗？”

把三角架稳定住。跑上河岸，太阳在他身后飞快地升起。纸整齐地钉在桥上。把它撕下来，把大头针和纸放进背心口袋里。回到岸边，走到摄像机后面。太阳升了百分之六十。

Red color coming up, sky brightening. Lower camera six inches, adjust tripod legs . Still not there. A foot more to the left. Adjust legs again. Level camera on tripod head. Set lens to f/8 . Estimate depth of field, maximize it via  hyperfocal  techniques. Screw in cable release on shutter button. Sun 40 percent above the horizon, old paint on the bridge turning a warm red, just what he wanted.

Light meter out of left breast pocket. Check it at f/8. One-second exposure, but the Kodachrome would hold well for that extreme. Look through the

viewfinder. Fine-tune leveling of camera. He pushed the plunger of the shutter release and waited for a second to pass.

Just as he fired the shutter, something caught his eye. He looked through the viewfinder again. "What the hell is hanging by the entrance to the bridge?" he muttered."A piece of paper. Wasn't it yesterday."

Tripod steady. Run up the bank with sun coming fast behind him. paper neatly tacked to bridge. Pull it off, put tack and paper in vest pocket. Back toward the bank, down it, behind the camera. Sun 60 percent up.