On one of the rainy days of last month's monsoon season, I had gotten off the bus near Shinyongsan Station to take pictures of people opening and closing their umbrellas to the rhythms of the intermittent rain. I noticed this woman, who seemed to be standing out against the hustle and bustle of people scurrying about her; she had also not yet chosen to fold her umbrella out, preferring to stand under the shelter provided by the station entrance's roof. She looked positively regal with her going-out-on-Sunday-with-my-boyfriend dress, elaborate handbag, and pearls.
I wish I hadn't miscalculated so much with my framing (I was standing nearly right on top of her, although the 20mm lens makes it appear much farther away), since I cut off her shoes. Perhaps it bothers me more as a photographer, but the space above her head is far less valuable than the space below, which I cut off. Had I been looking through the lens, I would have got it right. Yet, I also would not have gotten as many shots of her, since she would have noticed me shooting her almost instantly.
Notably, there is a couple (you can't see the girl) fighting in the background, which I went up close and shot. It was interesting, but since it involves faces, is a clearly private moment, and isn't photographically that interesting, it will remain a mere footnote in this picture.
Wish list? I wish the old man was farther along down the stairs and not so prominently taking away from the main subject, I wish the man with the umbrella was walking in the opposite direction and farther away from the subject (framing her right in the middle), and I wish I had angled the camera down to include the rest of her body, instead of the useless space above her.
But then there's also the raw power of her "look", which I like. I think it still works overall, although its deficiencies will bother me until I die. Maybe that helps make this picture charmingly imperfect for me. As they say, "warts and all."
