Photography Poem by Peter Elliott

It's been a while now
Since I owned a camera
I mean a real camera.

I remember the days
I used to load a new reel of film,
Twenty-four blank screens
Awaiting to be filled,
And set off to shoot them all
On a self-imposed assignment.

The quick aesthetic thrill
That comes of walking along
Brain in composition mode
Scanning back and forth
For an appealing subject
As one walks.

Then suddenly
Body freezes:
Here! - No, back! No, forward!
Here....
THIS composition!
From THIS angle!
With THIS lighting
Is perfection:
Shoot....