What that means is this: now that I'm again in possession of the necessary image-making device -- and I'm using the word "necessary" both in terms of being required for photography and needed for my mental health* -- I have to do a little hunting for photographic prey.
So what does this unnamed burg have?
Bricks. Lots o' bricks. The red, tan and dark-brown rectangular blocks are the local material of choice for homes, walls, commercial structures and, for all I know, trees and shrubbery**. Surround all the brickwork with cement for roads and sidewalks, and you have an overview of Where I Am Now.
You may notice a lack of driveways. The result in this car-centric*** town is driveways behind the houses, accessed via a network of alleys...
But all is not brick houses and glaringly white streets. If one walks around, and pokes into hidden corners a bit, one can find places that haven't been turned into housing tracts, shopping centers and industrial parks. There are small spots that remain absolutely bucolic, staving off Inevitable Civic Progress...
Moreover, there are one or two houses from the past to be seen, once you find them. They're worth the search, too...
This is not a new area by any means. I don't know when it was first settled, but it only took a walk past a local graveyard to learn that it was quite a while ago...
So, while this isn't precisely where I want to be, or where I intend to end up, it is Where I Am Now (mind you, I'm damn grateful to be able to reside here for now) and, with some walking and the heightened perception using a camera provides, I have to say it has more charms than first expected.
* Yes, I know some may argue that the camera's arrival came too late for that, but what the heck, it's a nice figure of speech....
** I kid, I kid. At least about the latter. The trees shed leaves and the shrubbery needs trimming, which obviously means they're not formed from bricks. I think.
*** More accurately, big ol' SUV or giganto pick-'em-up truck-centric.
8 comments:
Glad you have a camera back in hand. For some strange reason I've always found alleys fascinating, but I've never lived anywhere that had them.
AWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOMEAWSOME
This old burg has a few alleys, but I mostly stay out of them, not because they're scary, but because I never thought of house backs and featureless brick walls to be especially photogenic. Maybe I should rethink that, eh?
Doug -- Sometimes, I just shoot first and ask if a photo tells a story later. I was taught that preparation marked the difference between "photography" and "snapshots," but it's a rule that has exceptions.
It also makes the "delete image" button your true friend!
Didn't have much brick where I grew up so I always liked that place for their many variations of that building material.
I hope that tomb stone wasn't indicative of average lifespan back then.
the town I work in, and up until last July lived in, I always thought as dull and ugly, until I started walking around and taking pictures. I found lots of stuff worth photographing! A camera is indeed a good friend.
JohnO -- there were several markers I could see for children who had lived similarly short lives. Must have been a hard life around this area up through the 1890s, and maybe beyond.
this screams, "Get off my yard, you yipper-snapper!"
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