Taken on June 12, 2011
“If you had a penny, lad, what would you buy?”
“Since I haven’t any penny, sir, I can but cry.”
“If you had two cents, lad, what would you do?
“As I haven’t got two cents, sir, I can’t tell you.”
“If you had three cents, lad — what then, lad?”
“I haven’t got three cents, sir, and I’m just sad.”
“Lad, here’s a penny, and two cents, too —
And three cents beside it — now what will you do?”
“I’ll buy me a currant bun with sugar on top —
I’ll buy me a white mouse to skip and to hop —
I’ll buy me a kite, sir, to fly in the sky —
I’ll thank you and thank you, and bid you good-by!”
— Kathryn Jackson
The Golden Book of 365 Stories
06.12.2023: I like the photo. Other people might complain about the all-over lighting (I imagine that I attached a flash to the top of my camera), but I don’t care. I like the shine and the bokeh, the shallow depth of field, and the simple, silver-and-copper composition. Cutting off the edge of the focal penny was a mistake, and I should have straightened the image a bit, but back then, I was happy to just compose a scene and shoot it. There’s something to be said for that.