Interesting Development

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

This certainly was an interesting development. Zoe tilted her head to try and look at it, to figure it out. It was one of the photos she'd taken, to be sure, but for some reason it almost appeared to be coming out in complete negative from what it should be. She reached up, gently pulling the wet sheet toward her to study it more closely in the dim light. She had to stop to puff her cheeks, sending one of her loose curls back behind her. Then it was peering again.

"I need a second opinion," Zoe mumbled, before lowering it back down. She gave it another look before nodding confidently and striding back out into the room. Sure enough, he was right where she'd left him: "Ezra!" Zoe said, waving a hand and quickly approaching her photographic friend. "I need your opinion on something in the dark room," she said, pointing behind her. "Just real quick, I promise," which for Zoe probably meant at least fifteen minutes of discussing art. That seemed to happen with Quinn, let alone the much more comforting presence that was Ezra.

"I took it and I just---can't figure it out," Zoe said, looking back before turning to look at Ezra. "Oh, what were you working on again?" she leaned forward, trying to get a look, now feeling like she at least owed him that much if she were going to proceed.

[Ezra Cooper]

Ezra had gotten his photos developed a while back and now he had laid it all out in the art studio to see which ones he could use for his portfolio. He didn't hear Zoe calling him until she was right beside him, asking him what he was working on.

"Oh...uh I'm trying to choose which ones should go into my portfolio. Did you need something?" He asked distractedly. It was really hard to lock on to anything with Ezra when he was working on his photographs. It was one of those things that made it really hard to talk to him when he had a camera in his hands or he was close to some form of art piece.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe looked over all the photos, again admiring Ezra's knack for drawing out the raw emotions in the subject. They dovetailed nicely there, as Zoe so often liked to catch people with their guard down, show their real self beneath the layers. "You should definitely include that one," she said, pointing and nodding with some conviction. "I also really think if you want to make the portfolio you should go wide, but not without your focus, you know?"

Zoe had certainly put her own portfolio together, and she had the shows under her belt too. She nodded with more confidence again, pausing only to tuck some loose hair behind an ear. She moved forward, walking around to study several of Ezra's. "What sort of statement were you trying to make with these?" she asked, looking over at him. "You know, about yourself."

[Ezra Cooper]

Ezra looked to what Zoe had pointed out and he nodded, appreciating her insight since she had more experience with these types of things. He had seen her exhibitions and they were all successful so he could do with a few pointers.

"Yeah? What do you suggest?" He asked, picking out the photo Zoe had chosen and set it aside with the few he thought were exceptionally good.

Zoe's question made him think. He had never considered seeing it in that point of view. The main purpose of his portfolio wasn't to show any sort of statement about himself, really. "I don't know. I never thought of it that way to be honest." His eyebrows furrowed slightly into the middle before he turned to look at Zoe.

"I guess it was more to do with the fact that there are certainly layers to people and all you need are the right circumstances, the right words and the right atmosphere to bring them out."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nodded and went with the suggestion, hesitating before she offered more on the portfolio. Ezra didn't quite know, hadn't thought of it that way, and Zoe had to smile at that. So often people didn't, and it just made her feel like she'd somehow found some sort of secret or something. Because she most certainly had, and she had for quite some time now.

Though no sooner had Ezra said as much when, of course, he started up with an answer. "Ooh, I like that! And it really does fit in well with what you do. I've always said that photography is about capturing moments and viewpoints," Zoe nodded a few more times, looking around at the gathered photographs. She pointed at a few more. "Did you want to include any of these landscapes? You're really good at capturing things at just the right time. Far better than me."

Zoe had to flush at that. She knew she had some skill. Hers had an art and a grace to them, and some of the same warmth that Ezra's showed. Of course, they did overlap, what with having somewhat similar techniques: capturing people at just that right moment and everything. Ezra was definitely better at landscapes though.

[Ezra Cooper]

Ezra smiled and perked up when Zoe agreed with his own mindset about photography. "Exactly. I mean you can take a bunch of really good pictures with the best subjects ever but it'll all go to waste if you don't find that one thing or moment that makes it special."

He felt his cheeks heat up a little when Zoe pointed out what made him good as a photographer and he waved a dismissive hand. "Your exhibition with the kids who're using their powers begs to differ."

He continued picking out the ones he liked and then turned to Zoe, as if taken aback. "Hey, you were asking me for something right?"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nodded, smiling, glad to know that she and Ezra were as much on the same page regarding their photography as ever. She could also see him blushing slightly, which just made her smile all the more, though she at least made some effort to hide this particular one, not wanting him to notice her amusement at his momentary embarrassment.

"I had quite a bit of help for that one," Zoe said, nodding. "I'm just lucky I'm good at getting people to do things, just like you're good at getting them to drop their guard," she moved along, this time looking at the pile Ezra had sorted through. Unsurprisingly, most of them were pretty much what she would have chosen.

"I'm not sure about--" she began, turning to him. He'd apparently turned to her, and she nearly jumped at the realization. "What? Oh!" she practically threw the photo she'd been looking at. "Right! I had this photo, in the dark room," she turned and pointed, already feeling flustered. How could she have forgotten? Oh, wait: "But your portfolio is definitely more important than that..."

[Ezra Cooper]

"Help or not, you did an excellent job with that." He said with a firm nod. Although he would probably argue his own thoughts were he to have been in Zoe's position, Zoe did do an excellent job with her mutant project. He had enjoyed looking through them and if he had any money at all, he would have brought home at least one of her works.

He blinked a little, wondering what she was unsure about but then it seemed to dawn on her that she had come out of the dark room looking for him to sort something out.

"Oh I can work on these later. My portfolio isn't due for a few more weeks. What happened with your photo?" He asked, following her to the darkroom.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The nod just made Zoe feel better, and she drew herself up a little more. When Ezra, when Quinn, when her friends who studied photography complimented her, she couldn't help but know that she'd succeeded on some level. It meant that others in her field found her work impressive, and who wouldn't preen a little at that?

A blink, and then an admission. "Oh, well, I guess we can go and look then," Zoe said, lowering the photos and crossing to the dark room. "I took this photo, but I can't seem to make any sense of it. I'm not sure if the cap was on or there as just something off," Zoe entered the room, moving immediately toward the photo. She waited till Ezra got in and closed the door, then nodded and gestured up at it.

"See? I don't know for sure what it is," she again let out her breath in a near huff of frustration. "I'm downright flummoxed."

[Ezra Cooper]

Ezra took a look at the photo and furrowed his eyebrows, leaning in to take a closer look at it. "Where did you take this?" He asked, his lips pouting a little, moving every here and there as he tried to make out what could have been wrong with.

Too much exposure? Too little? Maybe there wasn't too much focus on it?

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"Outside?" Zoe offered, unable to suppress a laugh that followed the horribly unhelpful answer. She shifted, pulling at some of the others she'd had from the set. "It's with a handful that I took around the school, I think just a few days ago," she stopped to reach up and move another flyaway hair back. "I just... is it a building? Or a person? I don't usually take pictures of animals..."

Zoe trailed off, looking up at the photo and squinting. It hung next to a few others that were far more distracting, including some from her purchased date and others involving the festival that had been just so entertaining on so very many levels. "I kind of looks like maybe something perched on something?" she said, motioning, not sure how to explain what she thought she saw.

[Ezra Cooper]

He looked again, trying to reason what could have possibly gone wrong with this photo. "You might have just forgotten to focus on it." He said before stepping back.

"If this was me, I'd probably chalk it up to accidental pressing. I do that way too often." He chuckled.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe gave Ezra a slightly irritated look as he mentioned the focus bit. She didn't generally make mistakes like that, but.. "I might have pressed accidentally," she admitted, looking back up at it again. "I suppose i can always just write a really long poem on it," she was smiling at that, reaching up and taking it down. It wasn't as if she really had a whole lot invested in this: it just struck her as very odd.

"Oh, do you like the others too?" Zoe asked, pointing up at them. "Those are from the festival," she said, pointing. "I'm sorry I, um, missed your auction. I had, ah, other things on my mind. Oh, who won you?" Zoe looked over at Ezra then. "Was it someone nice?" Zoe couldn't really see someone mean winning him but, well, she'd heard that a few of the auctions had gone rather sour. Hers had some potential too, and she still did wonder what was going on between Elsa and her friends.

[Ezra Cooper]

Ezra, as always, was too distracted with the photo that he didn't see the look on Zoe's face. If he had, he would have felt really bad criticising someone else's work.

Blinking when he was pulled into another direction, Ezra turned to look at the others. Zoe's question fell on very distracted ears as he picked one out that reminded him of something he saw at the festival.

"Oh it's okay. I'm sure you were busy taking pictures of it." He chuckled before placing the photo back where he found it. The date with Amara had gone exceptionally well. She was such a sweet woman.

"Oh she was amazing. I was bid on by a baby, could you believe it? And I'm sorry I didn't go to yours once I was done. Who bid on you?"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe noticed Ezra looking, and she was practically waiting for him to start commenting on those too, though she knew that many of them weren't that great. She'd been taking pictures in between taking pictures for her job, not to mention just enjoying the festival and the whole dating auction thing.

It sounded as though Ezra's had gone well enough, which made Zoe feel better. he definitely needed someone nice, and she almost wished that she liked boys enough to try and offer. Zoe liked to think that if she were to "cheat," it would definitely be with someone like him. She did have to giggle at his comment about babies though.

"Really? Maybe she thought you were younger than you are," she said a little teasingly. "Or maybe she was just quite desperate for a man to show her the ways of the world," Zoe could barely manage that one, fighting the giggles. She'd nearly forgotten Ezra's own comments. "oh, um, it went... well," Zoe flushed. "I have pictures of it too, but, ah, they're on my other camera, the digital one. Well, and, um, my phone."

that last nearly made Zoe wince. She still couldn't help but think of phones as taboo, what everyone used for pictures, regardless of their skill.