I don't know how everyone else views the world, but I'd like to think that I see things a little differently, but then again I would also expect others to feel the same way. I know we see colors, black and white...light and shadow...shapes and lines, but I see the world around me like I'm looking through the viewfinder of a camera. I'm always looking, and not always intentionally, at the world like you see movie directors in Hollywood films where they put their thumbs and index fingers together in the shape of two L's making a rectangle from which to look through. I honestly don't intend to view life like that, but I've done it for so long that I can't remember a time it was ever different.
I don't consider myself a professional photographer by any means, not even in the loosest definition. Yeah, sometimes I get paid for the work I do but mostly not. Since I started my current journey with the click click, I've captured many beautiful photos. But far more ugly, blurry and mishandled photos if I'm really being honest. I've enjoyed shooting landscapes, hot rods, trains, portraits, sports and insects. It's easy to take photos of pretty things. It's easy to capture the bright and heartfelt images that make up our calendars and computer wallpapers but what about the rest...the things we pass by everyday with no more than a thought or sideway glance...but likely never notice. I was going through some of my older photos, the random ones that I never really knew what to do with and suddenly I realized how much my photography mirrors my everyday life. So here's a quick collection of said photos and would ask you this, do you see the reflection?
Don't worry it's not a trick question.)
So what conclusion did you reach?
I spend my life working with the personification of these photos...those we castoff, throw away, step over, pretend we don't see. The human equivalent of used lighters, flipped over shopping carts, spent shell casings, shattered properties and broken parts. My eye is drawn to the images we refuse to see, while my heart and soul are drawn to those we deem unworthy, beneath us and dirty. I find hope and compassion in some of the darkest places, this doesn't make me special and it doesn't make me better than anyone else.
Tell me, are your eyes open to the world around you? What will you deem worthy of beholding?
My challenge to you, find something that makes you uncomfortable, sit with it, experience the thoughts that threaten to drown you and simply float. In that momentary panic, remember that change is sometimes painful, but worth it in the end. If you feel that it's not worth it right now, then it's not the end.
Sometimes what can feel so scary, is the not knowing. And sometimes when you feel like you're drowning, if you just stand up...your feet will touch the bottom. It's all about perspective.
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