主に新たな話の種を見つけて。

[zuotengdazuo]

まあ、確かに目を輝かせてはいたけれども。主に新たな話の種を見つけて。

Hi. Could you explain why the underlined is 見つけて instead of 見つけていた?
Is it some kind of omission?
Thank you.

By the way, if the は in red is contrastive は, what does the は imply?

 

[Toritoribe]

That's an inversion.

主に新たな話の種を見つけて、目を輝かせてはいたけれども。

By the way, if the は in red is contrastive は, what does the は imply?

It depends on the context what in contrast is.

 

[zuotengdazuo]

Thank you.