Sunrise Photo Walk: Fixing Verb Tense Shifts

The Sunrise Photo Walk

1Last Saturday, my aunt Simone woke me up before sunrise. She had promised to take me on a photo walk, and she kept her promise. I pulled on my warmest hoodie and grabbed the small camera she had given me for my birthday. We tiptoed out of the apartment so we would not wake my little brother. Outside, the streetlights glow over the quiet, empty sidewalks.

2Our first stop was the fountain in Linden Square. Aunt Simone shows me how to hold the camera steady with both hands. Then she told me to crouch down low so the fountain would look tall in my picture. I took ten pictures of the water as it sparkled in the pink morning light. Only one of them came out sharp, but Aunt Simone said that one was worth the early wake-up.

3Next, we walked along Cedar Avenue, where shop owners were rolling up their metal gates. A man in a green apron was setting out buckets of sunflowers in front of his flower shop. He waved at us and asks if we wanted a picture of his flowers. Aunt Simone nodded, and I snapped a photo of the bright yellow buckets. Before we left, the man gave each of us a sunflower to carry home.

4By the time we reached the park, the sun was shining above the rooftops. We sat on a bench and scrolled through my photos on the camera's tiny screen. Some pictures were blurry, and a few were too dark to see. One showed my own thumb covering half of the lens. Aunt Simone pointed to the photo of the sunflowers and smiles. "That one tells a story," she said.

5Today, my sunflower photo hangs on our refrigerator in a blue frame. Every time I look at it, I remember that quiet, golden morning. Aunt Simone and I are already planning our next photo walk, and next time we will walk all the way to the river.