Closed Picture the Possibilities PV Avis Marlong

It was cold. Too cold. Wasn't Avis supposed to be used to the cold? It wasn't even that cold out; it was just a cool fall day, about ninety percent of days in Scotland. And yet she still shivered and walked quickly through the grounds towards the entrance hall, wishing that there were fewer outdoor paths on this campus--if you could call it that.

Because of the cold, Avis was irritable and distracted, and didn't notice the Hufflepuff until he began to speak. As he enthusiastically spoke, Avis startled backward, jerked out of her inner monologue of complaints, and tripped slightly over the stupid cloak as she barely comprehended the sentence. Something about a wizarding world product, and a review. Did he want her to review a wizard product? She could do that for a minute, as she waited for her heart rate to calm from the surprise.

When he pulled out an old camera, Avis furrowed her brow and stared at him, confused, flicking her eyes back and forth between his camera and his salesman's smile, before slowly pulling the camera out of his hand and examining it. It was an old camera, with a couple extra bits and bobs than Avis was used to, but an old camera nonetheless. She assumed it was run by something other than batteries here, but beyond that, it was just a camera. Did he realize that?

She spoke slowly and carefully. "It's a camera, we do have those in the muggle world you know. And an old one at that. It's really..." She faltered, trying to place what she wanted to say. "I have seen a camera before, it's not altogether new."

@Simon Kincaid

"Yes, but does the muggle world cameras take MOVING PHOTOS?" he emphasized the last two words with a slightly louder voice. He then took the camera from her and held it protectively against his chest, as if he was rescuing some small animal from harm. "And it's a great old camera, thank you. It's also my old camera. This...." he paused as he set down the one camera back near his enchanted satchel and pulled out another camera in much better shape than his own, "this one, however; is your camera. That is - if you wish to give it a go and let me know your opinion of it? A statement or two on how you like or dislike it and a rating of zero to five? I'm doing a product review article for the Headliner and want more views than just my own."

He hoped that the girl would agree. If not, he would see who else might wander through the Grounds that day and might. With rain perhaps in the future though, he had a small time frame to work with. "My aunt's husband....." he paused, realizing that he needed to get used to calling Mark his uncle. He cleared his throat and tried again. "My Uncle Mark taught me all about how to use a camera to get the most creative control from it - shutter speeds, apertures, iso of the film. All things that some muggle cameras can do and this one can do - but you need to sort of think photographer meets videographer when using a wizarding camera since it will capture a moving image of time."

He hoped that maybe some of this might catch her interest and that she wasn't completely bored with him. Simon himself found it all quite fascinating, even when it wasn't a magical camera. The magic just made it more enchanting - pun perhaps intended.

"Yes, but does the muggle world cameras take MOVING PHOTOS?"
Avis rolled her eyes, before taking on a mocking tone. "Oh REALLY? Wow. Moving photos? Who could've imagined?" She held up her hands in mock awe, before dropping them and curiously looking at Simon. "Yeah, its called a video."

And it's a great old camera, thank you. It's also my old camera. This...." She rolled her eyes again. This was turning into a very difficult conversation. "I didn't mean that it was worn down old, I mean it was outdated." She took the offered camera and pretended to be a model on the Price is Right, showing off the "new" camera. "Notice how this wonderful style, though less worn down than yours, is still from the 60s?"

She lifted the camera and turned in a slow circle, scanning the grounds, searching for a decent angle that could follow the golden ratio. She did not find one, she was yet to find something that did, and she settled for a picture of the Quidditch Pitch in the distance, trying her best to follow the rule of thirds. She didn't know much about actual photography, but composition she had learned from Aina.

Simon apparently knew more about photography than she did, though he seemed not to understand what a video was. Avis really couldn't tell with this guy. But Avis really wanted more light in her photo, so she looked back over her shoulder at him. "How do I let in more light?"

She would follow any directions if he were to give them, and then press the shutter, before turning back to him. "Err, now what? What am I meant to do now? I can't very well give a review without seeing a picture now can I?" She smirked. "Especially without seeing this incredible moving picture."

Simon decided the best route to go was to just let her explore the product. She had the camera in her hands and that was more success than he had previously that day with getting someone to review it and his words weren't helping - one bit.

No, he really didn't want the tone anymore and would say the least amount possible but that was difficult for the friendly social Hufflepuff. Sometimes you had to do hard things for a story.

"There's a few ways. One is by adjusting this dial here on the lens and that changes your aperture, or the opening - the bigger the opening, which - ironically - is the smaller number, then the more light it can let through. That will conversely affect what is in focus or not in your photograph though. Another way is the dial here," he pointed, "and that controls how long the shutter stays open to expose the film to light."

When she had finished, he gave her two options. "Well, I can either develop your pictures for you, or you can come with and I'll walk you through the process. I've got a set up laid out already in the Room of Requirement. It's the same layout that I use for LUMOS!, the school's photography club."

"Well, I can either develop your pictures for you, or you can come with and I'll walk you through the process. I've got a set up laid out already in the Room of Requirement. It's the same layout that I use for LUMOS!, the school's photography club."

Avis just stared at him, before smiling at him. "Those're my options? That's not even a choice. Of course I want to come with. That's super interesting, do you actually have to process the pictures?"
So its not the 60's then, it's before that, she wanted to add, but she figured she had already bullied the kid enough. It was pretty interesting though, and she really did want to see it. He clearly at least somewhat understood photography more than she did.

Simon seemed to have lost most, if not all, of his salesman tone, which Avis thoroughly appreciated. That had been part of what she was doing, trying to get past that. Solicitors were incredibly annoying people. Maybe the salesmen's pitch had worked for him in the past, but it wouldn't have worked for Avis if she hadn't been so interested in the camera she certainly wouldn't have stopped. But now that he was a bit more normal, maybe she could actually find out about this camera.

She turned and snapped a couple more pictures. The misty mountains, the lake, and a pretty bad picture of the Scotland sky, but she wanted something to send to her mum, and she might as well get all the angles. She avoided taking a picture of the forbidden forest, but she needed at least some pictures.

@Simon Kincaid

As she took some of her photographs, he went ahead with his camera to take a some more so that if she wished to work on the developing process he could show her. She seemed interested enough now that the device was in her hands and she was interacting with it.

When he offered to teach her how to make the photographs herself, she seemed eager to learn and that made Simon's smile return. "Yea, there's some places you can send them off to if you shouldn't want to but I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to - unless maybe they didn't have the time."

Simon paused to look at the lake one last time before suggesting they go elsewhere, hoping perhaps to get a glance of Herman before departing but no. "So off we shall go to the Room of Requirement!"[/color] where they could develop her photographs and she could take them back to her common room that day.

Simon motioned her a 'follow me' sort of hand movement and began, glad that some of the tension had dropped. Which common room though exactly did his fellow Hogwarts' student belong to? - If he had to guess with any merit to it, he'd say Ravenclaw due to the inquisitive nature. Somehow he figured a lot of his product reviews would be with Ravenclaws because most had curious minds.

"So I introduced myself earlier," he said as they now headed back toward the castle, "Simon Kincaid with the Headliner. Fifth year, Hufflepuff. Pleasure to meet you," and as he was walking he was slipping his camera back into his enchanted satchel before bringing out a baggie of lemon drops. He opened it, taking one out to pop into his mouth before extending the bag in her direction, offering her one if she wanted. "Lemon drop?"

Avis took her last picture hesitantly. She wasn't sure how much space there was on these cameras for pictures, and she didn't want to break anything. For all she knew, maybe magic cameras exploded if you took more pictures than was available.

She followed a half-step behind Simon, to his right, as he led her back towards the castle, slightly rolling her eyes as he introduced himself yet again. She had caught it the first time, she didn't need multiple introductions. He was a Hufflepuff, though. Avis quietly snickered a bit at that. He was about as Hufflepuff as was possible. If you had asked her to think of a Hufflepuff, she had a feeling this kid would be what she pictured. Her amusement only grew as he offered her a lemon drop. Of course Simon had spare candy in his bag, she wouldn't be surprised if he offered it to every person he saw in the corridors.

"No thanks." Avis shook her head slightly. "I'm not one for fruity candy. I'm a chocolate girl." She switched the camera from her right hand to her left, before awkwardly stretching ehr right hand across to offer him a handshake. "Avis Marlong. First Year...?" She hesitated a bit. It was strange, how everyone here introduced themselves by their year and house. It could only cause division, in Avis' opinion, but she would abide by the courtesy rules of any place she went to.

@Simon Kincaid

And just when he thought he might be making progress with the girl, it was two steps back it seemed. That was alright - not everyone had to like him but it did mean he wasn't going to attempt to spend any extra time with her than needed. She had agreed to help him with her product and had shown interest in developing her photographs and so that alone was where his priorities would rest. He set the bag of lemon drops back into his bag and slipped out a notebook so he could write down what little information was provided.

Avis Marlong, First Year.

He couldn't write down the house since none was given and so therefore he would either leave it out or ask around and try and get that information later on. If it were a day during the school week, she would most likely have been adorned in her school robes, making this much easier.

Once inside the castle, they headed to the Fifth Floor, luckily not being interrupted by any of the moving staircases and made their way to the Room of Requirement. This room knew Simon well and most times, not all times, but most times was used for his photography and appeared fo rhim exactly as it had when he had meetings for his club, LUMOS! Camera Club.

It was a comforting place, a large open area filled with plush seating and tabletops for use. There was an area in the back for film developing with potions and chemicals at hand in which to do so. Stairs led one upward, where there was storage and supplies, a resource library, and another doorway that led to the darkroom where prints were made. That last area is where they headed.

Simon showed her the magic of photography. He described and helped her with her own - and it began just as it did with film photography in the muggle world. Developer, Stop Bath, and water rinses ran through the film that had been placed in the film developing canister and then hung to dry. The hot air charm was the perfect drying spell to have it dried in no time and then they could utilize the darkroom.

There, he showed how to, under the protection of a safelight, make the photographs. It was the very last step, that they immersed the image into the Developing Soolution to make the image move. It was as if it extended the photograph itself - capturing not just a moment in time, but many moments in time.

He was happy with some of his photographs, one being a leaf blowing in the wind but was aesthetically pleasing and one was of his girlfriend AngelFyre McCubbin, glancing over her shoulder to him and then smiling. God, he loved that smile.

He hoped Avis was happy with her prints as well and walked away with a new experience and a bit of new knowledge that day. "Alright, hope that wasn't the worst afternoon you've spent in your lifetime," h he said but didn't need to really know if it had been. This had been what he thought was a good idea for articles for the school newspaper but with his first willing participate being not so engaging, he wasn't sure if he should continue. This one had to print though as he had little time to investigate for his next article.

"If you could give me a bit of what you thought your experience was like - what you liked and didn't like with the camera, and a rating of 0-5, that would be helpful." It was what they had discussed at the beginning and Simon hoped that shes would. Then she could free herself and go do....well, whatever it was that she seemed to enjoy doing more.

Avis spun in a slow circle in the Room or Requirement. She hadn't realized the room could look this awesome. It was incredibly, basically an entire house. She followed Simon down to the dark room and watched, captivated by the process. She had to admit, though the digital cameras were nice, there was something about the process that just seemed to give the pictures a little bit more life.

She was still not terribly impressed by the Developing Solution. It was cool that they could make little videos, but the videos themselves were, well, videos. She was much more impressed by the charm he used to dry the photos. She asked various questions as Simon explained, though whether or not he answered she didn't really mind. She could just look the answers up later. Or not. She frowned as she remembered the slight lack of internet in the wizarding world. She wondered if anyone else knew anything about photography besides Simon at Hogwarts. If not, she might have to ask him again.

She smiled as she carefully grabbed her new, finished prints. They were decent photos, not great, not terrible, but good enough to send to her family. The experience was much more enjoyable though. If Avis did this more, she had a feeling that she might end up enjoying wizarding photography more than digital. It was a much better journey, after all.

"Alright, hope that wasn't the worst afternoon you've spent in your lifetime,"
If it was the worst afternoon in her lifetime, Avis wouldn't have done it. It was, however, actually a lot of fun. "Oh, believe me, I've had much worse afternoons."

"If you could give me a bit of what you thought your experience was like - what you liked and didn't like with the camera, and a rating of 0-5, that would be helpful." Avis closed her eyes for a moment, deliberating, before opening her eyes. "If you had just asked about the camera, I would have probably said one, but all the photos, the creating, " She gestured around the dark room. "I'd have to give it a 4, 4.5? I think the difference is, that it's not about the efficiency, its about the entire art of photography itself, its about the journey. I suppose with a digital camera you can have so many pictures but they are more shallow, but the amount of work and passion you have to put into these makes them so much more beautiful." She held up the photo she had taken of the lake. "This isn't even a very good photo, but it's already one of my favorites, just because of the journey it took. It just gives it a little bit more life I suppose. My only complaint would be that you can't see the photos as soon as you take them, so if you take a picture of someone and they blink you won't know until much later." Avis bit her lip, hoping that was right. "Sorry that might be a bit long."

@Simon Kincaid