PHOTO OF THE DAY - 12/09/2008

"After the Kiss" – Brno, Czech Republic

I remember seeing the couple standing there, waiting for their tram to arrive.

The streets were wet with melting ice and snow–the city's natural cleansing–but the cleansing wetness hadn't been able to disguise the fact that this was still a city. It had overlooked the grime beneath Brno's fingernails–the abundance of wet cigarette butts scattered around the tram-stop, flicked uncaringly to the pavement alongside abandoned soda-bottles, old wads of chewing-gum and saturated scraps of paper–some failed advertisement that probably never even got read. And it hadn't been able to mask the city's bodily odors–the burnt smell of tram brakes and distant factory smoke were still heavy in the air, along with the stench of rotting tobacco.

I don't remember what color her hair was, or what her face looked like–or his for that matter. And I don't remember what their expressions were when they looked into each other's eyes...though I think I can imagine them.

And I don't know what time it was when he leaned forward to kiss her. I just know it was sometime late in the afternoon when the colors seem to be at their peak and such details become lost inside silouhettes...and that I snapped the photo about a half a second too late.

It's still one of my favorites...