Pittsburgh – Philadelphia, PA  Lost Pictures

I forgot my camera. It was too early. We had the early flight. I woke up and packed my suitcase. I was late, the Uber was already waiting outside. It was cold in the car. The air conditioning made me sick. I’m wearing a black cashmere sweater with an open collar, an oversized blazer from a Parisian tailor on top, Levi’s bootcut jeans, Italian leather boots, and a pink Philadelphia cap that I bought at the airport we’re now flying back to: Philadelphia. But first we have to get there again.

A long line of travelers separates Sonali and me from the security check at Pittsburgh Airport. It won’t be long before the gate closes. The TSA staff is friendly but under pressure—so are we. I have way too many things, and all electronics have to be unpacked: the digital camera from 2005 that I use to take photos with that nostalgic early-2000s look, the film camera I point at anything interesting that moves—leaves on trees, reflections in puddles, sometimes people—my laptop, power bank, steamer, and my beloved analog point-and-shoot camera, the Olympus Mju 1, plus the little bag with the films, Kodak UltraMax, 30 rolls, 9 of them exposed. I asked for a hand check, and as mentioned before: it was early, we were late...

I forgot to pack the camera and the films again. So they stayed there—the camera and the films, the unexposed ones and the ones that had been briefly exposed to light, capturing an image I found either interesting or funny.

I didn’t have time then, but now I’m taking it to get my pictures back. I’ve given up on the Pittsburgh Airport lost and found ever getting back to me. These are the images I lost:

• Morning, light, BER
• Only Literature sticker, airplane seat, Atlantic
• Fruit, Chinatown
• Muscles and swords, Chinatown
• Brooklyn Bridge, photographed like never before
• Soccer, grass, East River
• Getting ready for San Gennaro, Little Italy
• Swan bench, Lower East Side
• Bagel, coffee, trash
• Climax, bookshop, window
• Lower Manhattan, backlight
• Selfie, Armani suit and Eckhaus Latta sunglasses
• Oyster shot
• Shrimp taco, hot sauce, Mexican beer
• Selfie, blurry
• (…)?
• Dogs, Midtown
• Flatiron Building, covered with a tarp printed with the Flatiron Building
• Long street, many lights
• Train hall, Philadelphia, columns, U.S. flags
• People photographing the Liberty Bell
• Guns of police officers or soldiers or security in front of Independence Hall
• (…)
• Sandwich, grease, Yuengling beer
• (…)
• Evening sun, church light, truck lights
• Saloon sign, neon light
• Blue cheese on ground beef
• (…)
• T-rex skeleton at Pittsburgh Airport, next to escalators