Broaden Your Horizons

…what mattered most… is the tension produced… by the surprise of difference…  —  Linda Pastan, in Carnival Evening

Fulton Avenue composite street scene.

Fulton Avenue composite.

Although I am most comfortable photographing natural scenes, I live in an urban environment. After about 10 years of commuting to work down Fulton Ave. and up Monroe Street, I finally realized that that there was a lot that was photographically interesting on those streets and in those communities that I passed each day, but basically ignored.  Much of it is blighted urban community, but there are areas that remain healthy and vital with people interacting on front steps, street vendors with crushed ice in the summer, and clean streets.

 

Composite image of burned church

Composite image of burned church

This developing body of work, tentatively title “Fulton-Monroe,” is an attempt to broaden my photographic horizons, test my creativity and document something that was part of my life for about 10 years.

I am not a “street shooter” in that I am still uncomfortable going up to people and asking them if I can take their picture (something I should remedy), so these are really all urban landscapes, illustrating the nature of the community or neighborhood by implication, but missing the important human component.

Plants in windows composite.

Composite image; large weed growing out of a broken window vs well-kept window box.

Since this is outside my usual work I would especially appreciate comments on this blog.

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