I knew that I wouldn't be able to write a steady stream of content. It was a nobel aspiration, but ultimately I knew I was doomed from the beginning. Doomed I say!
However, here I sit determined to try again. Maybe at one point this will stick. Maybe it won't, but for these short bursts of time I will at least empty some ramblings here. Likely for no one or just few to read, but here all the same.
I was speaking (well texting) with a friend a few weeks ago, and we got onto the subject of why we enjoy the things we do. I started talking about photography, why I do it, and why I take the pictures I do.
I started snapping photos when I was about three years old. Little did I know that the camera I had was broken, and was just meant to be a toy to keep me occupied, but that really set off a life long love of snapping photos. When I was eight I only asked for a camera for my birthday, and I've had several since. Even now I have a stable of them that I take out based on where I'm going or what I'm planning to do. I get such pure enjoyment out of clicking that shutter button it's kind of absurd. What's also a bit absurd is the circle that my subjects have taken. When I was young I would shoot almost anything. A plant, our dog, a toy, my room, shelves, friends and basically whatever was right in front of me. I didn't know about rules or guidelines for taking my photos. I just wanted a picture that would help me remember everything. Later in life it became about the craft, and everything in black and white (more on that in another post). I was to shy to take portraits and so landscapes were my alternative. The hills and open fields of Eastern WA were my subjects. Occasionally we'd go to the ocean and I'd break out some color film, but it was always the land that made it into my photos. My mother would get upset with me wasting so much film on pictures that didn't have any people, but she just didn't get it. After I graduated college I started to do what I did when I was a kid, snap pictures of just about anything. It made everything so much more fun. Just point and shoot what I liked. That's evolved into a love of street photography. I'm still to shy to take portrait photos, but I love to take candid photos of people living their lives. No posing, no prep, just a click of the shutter and that moment of their lives is forever captured. Is it voyeuristic? Definitely. Could it be considered rude? Sure. Either way It's what I enjoy. Life is best remembered in the little moments. The ones that people forget. The in-between moments are what make up all our lives. Someone's got to save them right?
