There are days when I head out on my photo walk and wish I was someplace else – New York City or Paris. Montreal or Toronto. Washington DC or San Francisco. Someplace new and exciting and full of visual stimulation.
Someplace unknown to me. Where every corner promises new sights and surprises. Where everything is fresh and different. Big cities filled to the brim with architectural wonders that would make my head spin. I yearn for extraordinary sights and distinctive scenes. Something challenging and stimulating in front of my camera.
But the truth is I wake up each morning here, in Canton, Ohio. And while my camera and I have traveled together, the vast majority of my images are taken within a 10 mile radius of my home. This is where I ply my craft, along these familiar streets, within these few city blocks. Following this regular routine.
And even as I wish to be transported elsewhere, I understand, deep inside, that the real challenge is finding a way to make the ordinary extraordinary. To look at the scene I have viewed dozens of times and find something new. That is my real vocation. It’s not the fluff of the new but the digging deep, peeling back the layers, of where I am. Here. Every day.
That the prize comes in suddenly seeing that same boring scene in a radically different way. And finding the means to capture the wonder of that transformation.
To wake up and be here.
Continuing my Third Thursday Challenge black and white theme. Have you joined in? The link will be open through the end of the month.