Beatrice’s Window

Beatrice is making a photograph for the school entrance. She wants visitors to notice the little courtyard, where flowers grow beside an old bench. Oscar lends her a simple camera. The first photograph includes everything, even the overflowing paper bin beside the door.

On the screen, the flowers look tiny. The bin catches her attention first. Beatrice wants to move it, but Mrs West suggests looking through the camera before changing the courtyard. There may be more than one way to show a familiar place.

Beatrice steps closer. Now the pot fills the frame, but the bench has vanished. Oscar tries standing beside her. He likes the cracked edge of the pot. Beatrice had not noticed it before; she has been looking only at the flowers.

She kneels safely on the paving and tilts the camera a little. A curve of the bench appears behind the pot. The background is simpler now. She takes a photograph, then checks whether the flowers are sharp enough to see.

The image is blurred. Beatrice remembers pressing the button while she was still moving. She rests her elbows against her body and waits until the camera is steady. Oscar watches the strap so it does not hang across the lens.

This time, a small shadow falls across the pot. Beatrice looks up. Leaves are moving above her. She waits, then takes another photograph when the light changes. The crack looks different in each image, though the pot has not moved.

They compare three photographs on the screen. Oscar chooses the brightest one. Beatrice prefers the softer light, which shows both the flowers and the worn pot. She explains her choice without asking Oscar to change his mind.

At the entrance, the printed photograph makes Mrs West stop. She recognises the bench but looks twice at the pot. Beatrice has not shown the whole courtyard. She has made a small window into it, with something familiar waiting to be noticed.