It is a Toss Up

I seem to have two personalities when I am with camera: Detroit vs. everything else. Those of you who know my work probably found me through Detroit. That IS one side of me, for sure. However, there is another side that I mostly hide because you just don't find it very exciting. The irony is that I do.

For me, Detroit is an adventure. I do have my experiences in the city including two attempted carjackings. I must be alert, vigilant and that distracts from my photography really. I suppose if I went out in a pack, I'd fair better, be safer, but I truly enjoy my solitude and the freedom to let my thoughts and eyes roam. Actually, I often let my thoughts just float away and get into a pure looking mode. That is when I am having the most 'fun' behind the lens. Don't think - Shoot. Look later.

It is a real pleasure to go out with camera and not have to watch my back.

Shifting Gears

As anybody who follows my work knows, I go through cycles with what I like to shoot. I would imagine this is not uncommon. However, due to the emotional investment connected with shooting images in Detroit, in some of the nastiest sections, I find myself totally drained emotionally with camera in hand when I face to prospect of driving into Detroit. Shooting Detroit is definitely an adventure but I wouldn't say it is 'fun.'

I try posting other types of photography in Flickr, I mean, other than my staple cemetery work, and usually it doesn't work so well at all, view-wise. So I post a few and quit for a while. I love to photograph a certain type of Nature, abstract Nature, street shots, and probably my favorite, vernacular style photography, especially when I turn off my thoughts and just focus on color and form. I love color photography and only resort to B&W in rare occasions when I think an image was custom-made for that style. Anyway, I'm really into a vernacular state of mind lately, and totally enjoying it. However, if you are following my work, YOU are definitely not as enamored as I am. Does it matter? I suppose because what I post in my gallery is really for you. I have thousands of images I just wouldn't put up on Flickr, my private stash of images I like. I like a lot of my Detroit stuff, too, but it is like having a secret life away from the public.

I do not like shooting people, with a camera anyway. I avoid people in my daily life so why would I want to waste my precious shooting time on that? To paraphrase Charles Bukowski from "Bar Fly,"...it's not that I don't like people, but I just feel better when they're not around."

Sure, I'll take some shots at people once in a while, but when I do find myself drawn to shooting someone, I bet that person would fit nicely into an Edward Hopper painting.

Enough words for now.