But I refused to set sail in it

A boat in Lowell, MA

Clumsily developed negatives can ruin a picture forever. Photoshop helped me minimize the watermarks and scratches, but it was probably still underdeveloped. I think what kills me most is that even if I hadn't screwed up this sheet of film, it is still only a mediocre photograph, but I want to believe it would have been good. Maybe if people didn't care about strangers on their lawn with giant cameras or I had a longer lens I could have captured a better view.

This is one of many rejected images from my series of suburban landscapes that became my thesis project in college. Looking at this now I'm a little disappointed I never got a good image of a boat. Ten years earlier I would have been able to get a wonderful view of the big guy that stood in my grandparents' driveway most of the year. Although I guess all boats are ladies. I can mostly remember climbing up into it while it sat on sketchy looking metal stilts, maybe playing a sinister version of hide and seek with my cousins. Some nagging part of me feels like it's a memory of a fantasy, but I'm about ninety percent sure it's bonafide.