On the quiet river
In the grey cool morning
A few boats rock
As tourists clamber aboard
Laughter and photographs
As my camera surveys the scene
One boat begins to move
Oars dipping, splashing
I find frame on the boat
Zooming out; zooming in
Click a few exposures
Of a boatful of tourists
Moving through a flotilla
Of empty boats
Back at the guesthouse
Editing the photograph
I realize
The moment was not about the boats
The moment was not about one boat moving
The moment was not about tourists laughing
The moment was about
One man rowing
With all the intensity of an Olympian
And I am glad for a camera
Able to record all the pixels
I did not need
With enough pixels left over
To crop down to just the pixels
Which I did need
Ganges River
Varanasi
Uttar Pradesh, India
Taken during travels, 2017