InsaneJournal

I don’t believe I’ve seen any polaroids in years.
Who: Rose and Max
What: Photography meeting
When: Recently
Where: Where Rose works!
status: complete
Rating: hella PG


Rose had been looking forward to meeting with Max and seeing her photography since she had spoken to her on the Network. It was at the end of her shift that Rose spotted who she thought was Max, and she finished up quickly, grabbing herself an after-work sparkling latte and a fruit tart before making her way to the table.

“Excuse me,” she said when she came to the table. “Are you the photographer from the Network? I’m Rose.”

"Uh, yes! I'm Max." Max had her bag with her, and her old polaroid was in the table while she had been playing with her phone. There were a couple of few pictures - an old hotrod that had been parked outside, Rose on the job, and a selfie of Max with a latte.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Max,” Rose said, very politely as she slid into the seat opposite of Max. “May I?” she asked, gesturing to the photos, though she was already reaching to pick them up before she had proper permission. “These are quite good,” she said, looking through the three photographs.

“Go ahead!” Max took another snapshot as Rose looked them over because it was so meta that she couldn’t resist. She really went through the film like crazy, which could get expensive. Luckily she had funds from her parents to help with that. She might feel a teensy bit guilty over it. Just a little. “Thanks. I really love taking pictures and sometimes you just have to be really quick to catch a good shot.”

Rose was a little startled when she heard the click of the camera, though she smiled. She had always rather enjoyed having her photo taken. “I believe that’s one of my greatest problems when it comes to photography. I’m always trying to wait until the shot is perfect, and most of the time I end up missing it.”

“You just have to keep taking pictures. It’s easier with digital, you know? Just take a hundred pictures and you can throw out 90 with the click of a button. It’s a bit more expensive with film, but that’s how you have to do it that way too.” She held up the meta picture. “I think this one came out nice.”

Thinking about the actual price of things was something that was relatively new to Rose. Even after her father had died, leaving her and her mother with a mountain of debts, it was still something Rose didn’t think of. Partially because her mother refused to think about it. Now that she was living on her own, working for her own money, she was beginning to see the value in it. And all that film did sound expensive. “Well, if I do decide to try my hand at photography, I’ll certainly have to start with digital.” The paints and the canvases she used for painting were already rather expensive.

“That did turn out quite well,” Rose said, looking at the photo and smiling. “I don’t believe I’ve seen any polaroids in years. Is the film very hard to come by?”

“Not if you know where to look. There’s a lot of online websites where you can buy, and it’s way cheaper than trying to get it at a camera store.” Max twiddled her fingers against the table. “Though there’s this one place I found that has good prices and a lot of rad equipment to drool over.”

“The internet is just wonderful,” Rose said. Her dreams took place long before the internet had ever been dreamed of, but she still had trouble imagining life without it. It was so easy to find anything one might need. “Do you ever sell any of your photographs? I’m sure you could make quite a bit if you held an art show.”

“That would be cool,” Max replied. She’d almost said ‘hella’ which she could blame on Chloe. Her friend had changed so much. Hella much. “I haven’t tried, I don’t know where I’d start. You have to be careful, someone could steal your work online.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Rose said. Stealing photography on the internet certainly was easier than stealing drawings or paintings, though she knew that it happened with other mediums as well. “Perhaps you could get in touch with other artists and see if you can do a joint show with them?” Rose wasn’t likely to hold a gallery show of her art any time soon, but she knew that there were plenty of talented artists on the Network.

“That might be kind of fun.” She was thinking of starting a Deviantart but she was leary of the community. People could be real jerks on that website. Something more local would suit her better, especially since most of her stuff was physical film. “I’ll have to look into it!”

“Are you a student?” Rose asked. “I know many of the Universities have student art galleries.” Rose had just recently been to look at the one at UCI. There’d been nothing set up in it, but it had seemed nice.

“I’m going to UCI this fall. I’m really kind of nervous. It was actually my second choice, but I think it might turn out for the better.” After all, her BFF had come here. She would have missed Chloe if she’d actually gone to Blackwell.

“I’m just starting this fall too!” Rose exclaimed, pleased. She’d had her choice of a number of Universities, but she had felt drawn to UCI and had passed over a number of more prestigious universities for it. It had led her to Jack though. “What are you planning on studying?”

“Photography and art. I’m not sure what I want to do besides that. I was thinking journalism because I’m naturally kind of nosy.” She smiled, expression a little sheepish. “Its gotten me into trouble before.”

“Photography and journalism go together pretty well, I’ve heard,” Rose said. “There’s nothing wrong with getting into trouble once in a while. ‘The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made,’” she quoted.

“Well, I’m the kind of person to ask questions when I shouldn’t, but I have this crazy need to know why. Or how and stuff.” The girl held up her camera. “And this is my viewfinder to the world!”

“I’ve always felt the same way. The world is far more interesting if you try to engage with it and learn about it,” Rose said, though Rose really was more of a book learner than anything. She had grown up rather sheltered, and her books were her way of learning more about the world that she lived in.

“Yeah,” Max mused. “You could just stand by and ignore it, or you could engage with it. Like being an every day hero.”

“I’m not sure if heroism is my forte,” Rose said. “Just muddling through on my own can sometimes be overwhelming.” She still had troubles with budgeting sometimes. She had never missed a bill payment or rent, but she still oftentimes wondered exactly where all her money was bleeding away to.

Max laughed. “It was just something I heard. It doesn’t really make any sense, but it sounds kind of cool doesn’t it?”

“I find that that tends to happen often with quotes,” Rose said, and took a sip of her sparkling latte. “Perhaps once you’re a journalist, people will be quoting you as well!”

“Hey, maybe.” She gestured at the pictures. “Someday you can say you’ve got one of my pictures.”

“I’ll have to have them framed. Perhaps they’ll be worth a lot of money someday,” Rose said. Rose didn’t collect art for the money, but she did enjoy collecting art of relatively unknown artists, and she had a pretty good eye. In her dreams, she had even bought a painting from an unknown artist known as Picasso.

Max flipped one around and signed it. “There. Now you’ll have proof!” She pushed it across the table. “A Maxine Caulfield original!”