Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Queen for a day”. This afternoon, I met a woman known up and down Adams Avenue, where Normal Heights and North Park meet, simply as Queen. She and her husband sold their home, after raising a family there, and rented an apartment in one of the newer buildings erected during the past few years. Children gone away, the house was too roomy.
I made Queen’s acquaintance when walking to the auto shop, where our Honda Fit had been dropped off to repair the strangest problem: Something had dislodged the splash shield under the engine, and it frequently scraped the ground.
As I walked by, Queen commented, “Nice camera”, referring to Nikon Zf and attached NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens. “Thank you”, I said and continued my pace. But at the street corner I stopped, turned, looked back, and thought about missing an opportunity. I retraced my steps.
Queen and a fellow resident sat on a pair of utility boxes that they described as the apartment building’s common area, or at least that’s how tenants treat the space. I asked that since she commented about my camera would she be willing to be photographed by it. As a matter of fact, Queen would.
The Featured Image is the last of five shots taken. Nikon Zf has a dedicated switch for shooting in monochrome, and did It. The portrait is presented as captured, unedited. Vitals: f/5.3, ISO 400, 1/200 sec, 47mm; 2:23 p.m. PDT.
The second shot presents perspective and how Queen and her attire look in color. Vitals: f/8, ISO 400, 1/100 sec, 28mm; 2:19 p.m.
I enjoyed visiting Queen, accompanied by her friend and fellow resident, who brandished Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (what a great choice). As animated and cheerful as Queen was, sadness crept in. She explained: Her 29-year-old daughter died in an auto accident, October 2023. No mother loses a child without losing a part of herself.
I never had opportunity to express my empathy for Queen. Our only child, then 28, suffered a brain injury in March of the same year. Her heart stopped in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. She clung to life tenuously those first few days, and her ICU physician predicted complete debilitation. Doctors called her eventual recovery miraculous, although she suffers some neurological impairment.
My child survived. Queen’s daughter is gone. What a sad sentence to write and to end on. Sorry about that.
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