A picture I took with my iPhone (unedited) of L’Enfant Station (Washington DC Metro)
With the right kind of eyes, you can almost always find artwork surrounding you.
The artwork of photography is knowing when the happenstance of beauty is upon you so you can put your eye in the right place at the right time, taking scissors to reality and grabbing a moment.
I posted the image of L’Enfant Plaza I took at the DC Metro stop for multiple reasons. For one, I took it with my iPhone’s camera. It wasn’t taken with an exceptional camera. I really wish I had a DSLR at the time, but I was still able to take a picture that I still find to encapsulate the beauty I saw at that moment. Is it a bit noisy? Sure thing! In the end what matters is that I have an image I’m still proud of, encapsulates a moment, and I find beauty in. The artwork of photography is knowing when the happenstance of beauty is upon you so you can put your eye in the right place at the right time, taking scissors to reality and grabbing a moment.
Do your best to look at the world around you through alien eyes; pretend that everything around you is new and you may see something that should become a photograph.
When I took this photograph there was a man standing next to me intently engaging his phone; he seemed to have blinders on as he typed something apparently important. He didn’t move one bit or look up from his phone, but after I took the photo he asked me, “Are you an artist?” It took me a moment to realize where the question came from since he didn’t even lift his head to look in my direction let alone stop mucking about with his phone.
“Er, uh, I guess so, yeah.”
He didn’t say anything else and kept plugging away at his phone for a while. I walked around as I waited for the metro while his question hung in the back of my head. I found it odd he asked me if I was an artist. I assumed it was because of my “weird” hair [link to slo-mo video of me flipping my hair], but I was curious as to why he presumed I was “an artist“. (I remember wondering, “Am I an artist? I guess so…When does someone decide that they are an ‘artist’?” But I digress…) I decided to loop back around and try to engage him in conversation to find out why he asked. I decided to ask him if he was an artist.
“Nope.”
“Oh, I was just wondering why you thought I was one.”
I then received one of the most amazing compliments I have ever heard:
“I have been coming to this station day in and day out for years. I never noticed how beautiful it was until I saw you take that picture.”
I don’t know how I replied to that because I was partially stunned and absolutely flattered.
We are almost always surrounded by beauty in some form. Find lighting that moves you. Twist your body to get the angle that touches you. Let shadows waft like the smell of flowers until they settle on your lens at the right moment. Do your best to look at the world around you through alien eyes; pretend that everything around you is new and you may see something that should become a photograph. In the end, the perfect photograph might be right in front of you and all you need to do is realize it is there.
…and maybe you might get lucky every now and again that the picture you swear should have been recorded actually comes out in the end the way you intended.
It is worth noting that the DC Metro stations are urban artwork installations in their own right, so I had great material to work with.
To be clear, I am not trying to suggest that I am a great photographer. That would be presumptuous, at best, and limiting at worst. Hell, the camera I use is a point’n’shoot; a Panasonic Lumix ZS3. Nothing fancy by any means. I love taking pictures and I do my best to improve my technique. If I am lucky I take a picture I am proud of. If I win the Lottery of Sharing Art™, then other people also find enjoyment from my pictures.
Here are just a few more pictures of “artwork in unlikely places”…a supermarket!
(NOTE: These pictures are unedited, haven’t touched photoshop, etc.)
Did I mention I use a point’n’shoot?
Eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers at a Korean market in Maryland
Various hot peppers at Safeway in San Mateo, CA.
Seven foot tall stalks of sugar cane at a Korean market in Maryland.
