“But you…” Aspen jutted her lower lip out in an exaggerated pout. “You don’t want to photograph me?”
Eve rolled her eyes. “Of course I do! But not at the risk of your gorgeous ass getting frostbite!”
Aspen abandoned her pout as she preened at her, instead. “You think my ass is gorgeous?”
“Aspen…” Eve sighed and hooked two fingers in the open V of Aspen’s jacket to tug her close. “You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever met,” she murmured against Aspen’s lips before kissing her soundly. “And I love that you are trying to keep things light and easy, but it’s very distracting because it’s making me remember how beautiful you looked in bed this morning. So I’m going to need you to stop for a little bit.”
Aspen groaned. “That’s not exactly making me want to keep my clothes on.”
Eve chuckled and gave Aspen’s behind a playful smack. “Tough.”
“Christ, neither is that,” Aspen whined. “Woman, you’re killing me!”
Eve winked at Aspen as she lifted her camera at her and snapped off a quick picture. She glanced at the screen on the back of the camera to see how it turned out, and smiled when she saw that the off-the-cuff shot had captured the warmth of Aspen’s smile and the laughter dancing in her beautiful brown eyes perfectly.
“Good?”
“Stunning. Just like you,” Eve assured her.
“Oh, well…” Aspen smiled shyly and held out a hand.
Eve’s heart swelled, a feeling of genuine happiness enveloping her in a gentle, golden halo as she placed her hand in Aspen’s. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s go take some pictures.”
“So, what are we looking for?” Aspen asked as Eve led them down the trail.
“Anything that catches your eye. And, yeah, I know that’s vague, but it’s just… The world is beautiful, but everyone is always so busy running from one place to the next that the little things don’t get noticed, y’know? Like, yeah, volcanoes and whales are cool. But so is the way shadows line up like they’re actively pointing your attention toward something. Or the silhouette of a woman standing at the edge of a cliff with the wind whipping her hair. Or the way the sunset colors the gaps between leaves on a tree.” She stopped in front of a gnarled and weathered aspen that seemed to stand sentry in front of a collection of evergreens. “Or maybe it’s the way a tree trunk is juxtaposed against the things behind it.”
Aspen’s expression was thoughtful as she studied the scene that had caught Eve’s eye. “What about this stands out to you?”
Eve shrugged and lifted her camera. “I like the shadows in the snow where it ripples around the base of the trunk, and the way the white bark stands out against the green behind it,” she explained as she knelt down and manually adjusted her focus to zoom-in on the pillows of snow that hugged the trunk.
She snapped a few shots and pushed to stand, not bothering to check how they’d turned out. She’d sort through it all later.
“What about that?” Aspen asked.
Eve looked to where she was pointing and smiled. “Our footprints?”
“Yeah, I like how they crunched down the tracks from the sled.”
Eve flipped the autofocus on and then pulled the camera from her neck to hand it to Aspen. “I think you better try to get that shot, then.”
Aspen hesitated. “I don’t want to break your camera.”
“It’s just a camera. As you can imagine, I’ve got a few,” Eve said, chuckling as she tried to push it into Aspen’s hands. “And, if it makes you feel better, this is the one I take on trips when I’m just exploring because it’s smaller and lighter. I bring my bigger, more expensive Canons and Nikons when I know I’m going to work.” What she didn’t say was that the lens cost more than this particular camera. “So as long as you don’t drop it, it’s fine.” Eve stepped in close to loop the strap over Aspen’s head. “And, see,” she said as she laid the camera against Aspen’s chest, “it’s not going anywhere.”
“Okay,” Aspen said as she carefully lifted the camera. “So, what do I do?”
Eve moved to stand behind Aspen so she wouldn’t be in her way as she said, “Line the little rectangle in the viewfinder up with what you want the camera to focus on. It’s in autofocus mode, so you can just play with the zoom on the lens here.” She gently guided Aspen’s left hand and slid it to the part of the lens that rotated the lens in and out to change the zoom. “Then it’s just a light press on the shutter button to focus, and a little firmer to shoot.”
“Right…”
“Just play around with it,” Eve encouraged as she stepped back to give Aspen space to fiddle without feeling like she was being watched.
Aspen’s lips pinched as her index finger tensed on the shutter button, and her expression relaxed into a small smile when she pulled the camera away to check what she’d done on the display. Eve was pretty sure she’d never seen anything more adorable inher life. “So how did you get into photography?” Aspen asked as she turned to look for something else to take a picture of.
“I needed an art class when I was in high school to fill an elective requirement, and since I can’t draw a straight line to save my life, I decided to try the photography course. And the rest, as they say, is history. Once I got my hands on a camera, I was hooked.”
“Why’s that?” Aspen asked as she angled the camera toward the top of a copse of trees.
