I’ve been taking pictures along the river in Grand Rapids. The photographs bring together water, autumn trees, the city, and places where work is still underway.
I like having all of that in the same set of pictures. A city doesn’t have to be finished for there to be something worth looking at.
Walking gives me time with my ideas. Books, blog posts, photographs, and the occasional T-shirt concept all seem to find their way into the conversation. Sometimes a walk becomes a planning session before I’ve quite agreed to attend the meeting.
But I also want room to enjoy the walk itself.
FindMeRaw grew out of difficult parts of my life, including illness, estrangement, and starting over. Those experiences matter. So do the ordinary moments I’m having now, when I’m outside, noticing something, and wanting to take a picture.
I don’t want the pleasant parts to disappear from my writing because the painful parts make a more dramatic introduction.
There’s a temptation to make every photograph carry a lesson. Water becomes a metaphor. A bridge becomes a symbol. Before long, the tree has been recruited as a motivational speaker.
Sometimes I’d rather let the tree be a tree.
These pictures can have that space. You can look at the river, the shapes of the buildings, and the work along the bank. You can notice something I missed. You don’t have to arrive at the same meaning I do.
That’s one of the things I enjoy about photography: sharing what caught my attention without deciding in advance what somebody else has to feel about it.
There are practical things waiting when I get home. Drafts need reading. Pictures need choosing. The books need more of my attention.
I also got to spend part of the day walking and looking around. That belongs in the story too.
What do you notice on a familiar walk when you give yourself time to look?
Leave a Reply