Shutter Sisters

ferry terminal

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Back in the day I’d roam the streets with my 25-year-old Pentax K-1000, desperate to find something INTERESTING.

I loved those photography courses. Photojournalism, darkroom, abstract. It seems so far away to me now, the prospect of self-betterment just for the fun of it, sitting here typing one-handed, jiggling baby number two.

These assignment shots make me hopelessly nostalgic, sniffing the five-year-old fumes of the fantasy of disposable time. Wandering, subject-hunting, answerable to no one. All snow-capped peaks and Chinatown scenes and whales from my kayak as opposed to today’s snotty noses and ‘spwinkle’-laden birthday cakes. Sure, I didn’t have inspiration like this. Or this. But I sure do miss those creative excursions.

I remember lying on my stomach on a pile of rusty metal garbage in the rain, stalking. Chin to the pavement, facing the gloomy underside of a shipbuilding trailer on the North Vancouver docks, waiting for a pack of feral cats to trust me enough to let me document their scruff and scrappiness.

Not much different with people, come to think of it.

Accosting passerby, trying to explain why I found them interesting, somehow, just as they were.

Comments

  2. This is exactly why I’d like to take a photography class when I get the time. I love assignments! I need to work on not being so shy around people though…

  3. Ah, the memories of my sans-child shutterbug days! While I love being a mom, I did so very much love photo excursions. Esp. the 2am ones in downtown Chicago when you had your choice of parking spots. That spikey hair shot is AWESOME. I’m shy about posting photos of other people (who aren’t my kid or husband), so this is a great idea for getting people shots without making them too identifiable so I can post them for the world to see guilt-free! Thanks for the inspiration!

  5. i love this shot, and your words. I can totally relate, and miss those days when i had hours to wander. makes me think i need to change things up to get back to that again. thank you for this.

  6. how amazing to read your words, as i’m two weeks into my very first course at langara (which is just the beginning…i’m planning to do the whole certificate). pretty wonderful courses, eh! i am trying to savour this stage, the ‘self-betterment for the fun of it’…