The light was harsh, the street was empty, and every frame I took felt flat. I came home convinced I had wasted a roll.
When the scans arrived I made myself study each one. Not the subjects, which were dull, but the structure: where the lines went, where the eye landed, what I had left in that should have been left out.
Shadows and lines
Three frames had something. All three were about shadows, not about the things casting them. That was the lesson: on a day with no subjects, photograph the light itself.
A failed shoot is only failed if you do not look at it afterwards.