At 05:53 PM 5/23/2006, you wrote:
>Feeling a little inspired, I wrote a little essay about a tiny
>community here in Iowa. I hope you enjoy it.
I will have to spend some time reading this. I grew up in
Independence Missourah, but have lived in New England for
the past 23 years. Northern Missourah farm land is much like
Iowa, except the rolling hills are bigger.
In this day of fast internet consumption, photos need to be the
"WOW" type photos to make it. But will such photos be of
any interest years from now? My Dad took a lot of travel photos
during the late 50's and 60's. Now, years later, he says the
only photos that really interest him are the ones of people.
He got caught up then in photographing the scenery. But some
of his people shots today are much more interesting. Mostly from
a personal perspective, but time does change the character and
value of photos. Here is one, I'm the kid you see the back of the
head. The kid with the bag is a bag of fireworks, another holds
a punk to light them. The trailer thing was a common item, made
from spare stuff, old axles, etc. fungus has started to eat away at
the Ecktachrome.
http://www.zuik.net/om/Dad_e60_006.jpg
I have started to notice that my neck of the woods, New England, has
a lot of very interesting photographic opportunities. It seems my eyes
have been opened in some way over the last several months. Not that
it has translated into some good photos, but just noticing things, just
off the beaten path, there is a lot to see and photograph. Just 1/2 mile
down the road from my new work place is an old bridge. I noticed the
railings are slowly being replaced with modern stuff. For instance:
http://www.zuik.net/om/bridge_detail_MG_6965.jpg
on the left is a new galvanized pipe added into the old post. New posts
are not nearly as interesting. You can see from this shot the slow
replacement of the railing:
http://www.zuik.net/om/bridge_MG_6960.jpg
I could have easily driven over this bridge and never noticed before.
But just choosing to start looking can go a long way toward seeing.
Life seems to be rushing by, and it is easy to not stop and take a shot.
I'm not exactly sure what I'm rushing toward. In a way, this bridge
symbolizes the current state of society. The old railings had a certain
character, today, they are just posts, all the same. Just get it done,
who cares what it looks like. I'm not sure anyone would spend the
time and energy to make a bridge like this anymore. Especially for
just a measly side road off the beaten path.
It seems the more my time has demands on it, the more I crave the
moments to just spend seeing the ordinary world in a fascinating way.
WayneS / photographing-the-drone-of-the-world.
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