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Category Archives: Photowalk
My own backyard
I’ve lived in St. Louis for my entire life minus 2 years spent living in Japan and 4 years living away at college in Richmond, IN. As a native St. Louisian I take pride in knowing my city and ability to point out some of the more notable historic locations and neighborhoods. So when I decided that my St. Louis Photowalk group would spend a few hours in the historic Lafayette Square neighborhood I didn’t think I would be surprised at what I found. Especially since I had spent quite a bit of time in Lafayette Park as a child playing soccer games on Saturday mornings.
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But as you have probably guessed I was wrong. I learned quite a bit about the neighborhood. Not because I suddenly turned a corner and ran into something new but instead because for the first time in my life I stopped and took time to really look at the buildings and the surroundings that make up Lafayette Square. It’s an occurrence that happens all the time for me now that I am pursuing my photography passion head on. The camera helps slow me down and forces me to really see things as they are, not as I have assumed them to be.
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One of my favorite quotes is: “Vision is the ability to see what others cannot.” My photographic vision is allowing me to see things anew with a more honest and patience lens. While I often forget what I have already learned about a subject or location photographic vision will always be there to slow me down, instill a little patience and ultimately allow me to see things in my own backyard that I have long forgotten.
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So what’s in your own backyard ready to be rediscovered and seen for the first time?
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Photography, Passion and Friends
I love photography. I love creating it, viewing it and discussing it. Heck, I even love hating it sometimes.
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I wasn’t born with this ‘love of photography’. No, it is something that has slowly emerged over the last nine years but has finally reached a stage of which I can no longer ignore. I can’t just look at a photo anymore. I have to immerse myself in it and wrestle with the subject, the place, the time and the why. You see, I’m not a technical photo junkie who feels they have to critique shooters choice of aperture or lighting. Not me. I’m more emotional when it comes to photography. I simply want to know who took a picture and why. Was it to record a special occasion or to mark the passage of another year? These are the things that I find myself wondering about each new photo that catches my eye.
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To me photography is an emotional art that allows you to capture a moment in time that makes a connection with others that never ends. Someone smiles when you first give them a photo and it makes you feel good. But what really makes you feel good is knowing that they will look at that photo thousands of times and get that same emotional lift as the first time they saw the photo. How good does that make you feel knowing you gave them that gift? It’s magical.
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Today I was blessed with a gift. I held the 1st ever event for a group I created on Facebook called St. Louis Photowalkers. It’s a group of photo enthusiasts that will get together on occasion to take photos throughout the St. Louis area. It consists of fellow friends and people I’ve never met. It is the realization of a vision of mine to try and connect people through the power of photography. While the concept isn’t new itself, this incarnation is new to me. And today it became a reality.
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I spent the walk with some existing friends and met a few new ones. It was a beautiful day. A day ripe with promise and energy. Hopefully a sign of good things to come for our group. And by the end of the walk I knew that yet again my passion for photography was making an emotional impact on others. While I have yet to make a living from photography it is clearly playing a key role in making me feel alive.
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