A picture worth a thousand stories

When I'm making pictures, I spend much of my time working to get as close to my subject as possible. But sometimes a scene is best captured from a distance when it's about composition and body language.

In Paris on assignment, I was walking along the River Seine past Notre Dame toward the Louvre when I glanced to my left. The wedding dress in the window was stunning. It stopped me in my tracks. I felt as though I was in a museum viewing an oversized still life framed by a magnificent dark border. The designer of the window had achieved the desired effect: I took notice. Moments later a woman, bundled against the April chill, came upon the window. She lingered, perhaps thinking of what could have been or what might be, then continued her journey. Before she did, I took this picture. I appreciate the ambiguity of such scenes; the viewer adds his own interpretation, emotions, characters, and plot. The story it tells is as unique as the person who looks at it.