So here’s the good news. Great effort and tremendous expense are not required to create beautiful photographic images. A high school friend has just returned from a majestic trip to Iceland. I would love to follow in his steps but circumstance and funds do not presently allow for such travel. A professional friend from Kamloops travels the globe extensively and has amazing images to prove it.
Alternatively, I am told that Canadian photographer, Freeman Patterson created around ninety percent of his nationally treasured images less than two kilometres from his home in Shamper’s Bluff, New Brunswick. For me, this seems more achievable, but some driving (which I cannot do) is still required.
So imagine my delight in finding an article at Fstoppers online by Alex Cooke: “How to Find Great Photographs Within Walking Distance of Home.” Cooke writes:
“The railing you pass on the way to the shop, the peeling door down the street, and the traffic marker on the corner rarely look like photographs, which is why most people never point a camera at them. Learning to see images in those ordinary things means you can shoot well on any free evening, without a long drive or a planned trip.”
Now that’s possible for me. This last Thursday I walked our Labradoodle, Juno around a favourite local 20-minute route. The light was muted with fall colours on subtle display. Our Jones Flat Road route is no “Grand Canyon” but a number of scenes caught my eye. I thought that I should do the trip again the next day. Once I returned Juno home I thought, well, let’s do it now. And I did.
At one point a woman in a white car pulled alongside. Rolling down her window she asked m what I was photographing. I said “anything that catches my eye.” “That’s wonderful; good for you,” she replied. I guess I should have photographed her but the white car was black inside. Another time perhaps.
You will rightly ask, what did I find? A plant in our front garden; postal boxes; colours in one of many orchards; fence lines; irrigation control units; (I avoided the political signs – boring); houses; pavement marks; farm buildings; racing cars; flags; and bicycles (abandoned? Stolen? Left out to rust?). There’s always something. Enjoy the slide show below.
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