Words Worth a Thousand Pictures?

       Nita Lelyveld does L.A. Times pieces on the City Beat.  Today's piece on a self-taught amateur photographer at the point of becoming a true professional was a funny and heartwarming one as well as conveying Rafael Cardenas's budding artistry.  Here are Nita's words about some of Rafael's photographs:

     
       He didn't think in themes.  He simply stopped for what caught his eye.  A man walking down the front steps of City Hall, looking as if he carried the weight of all L.A. on his shoulders.  The window of a store with two signs: Open and Closed.

       From inside his truck, in a downpour, he captured raindrops on his window as a cyclist passed under a traffic light.

       While leaving a Martin Luther King Day parade, he spotted a vintage yellow Chevy Monte Carlo with yellow starfish rims, stuck in traffic, hugging the road's yellow center stripes.  On the other side of the street was the yellow sign of a furniture store.  The road was wet.  The yellow was everywhere, so bright.  He caught the perfect moment when the woman behind the wheel turned her head his way and smiled.

       On Valentine's Day, he saw a young couple sitting on some steps, leaning into each other.  He clicked when the girl kissed the boy's cheek, cradling his chin with one hand.