a photo walk
Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get to go on a photo walk with my Aunt Stephanie. Her dentist is near my dorm, so I get extra visits! Lucky me!
She takes more pictures than I do! And I think we have a lot of the same “artsy” genes. So what better to do on our little visit than take our cameras around and snap up the golden autumn afternoon?
While I was walking to meet her, I shot this picture of the back of these buildings. A policeman was standing on the sidewalk near where I stopped, and he asked me, “What could you possibly see over there that you’d want to take a picture of?” This question was certainly prompted by what is not included in my shot: below that tree are multiple overflowing dumpsters, and a few beat-up cars that are always parked there. But I liked the reds of the tree and the fire escape together, and I told him so. I don’t think he understood, but it made me grateful for the way my eyes work when I’ve got my camera around my neck.
I still don’t think this is a great picture… I was just warming up after all. But it makes me smile now, and I certainly captured that corner of Cleveland with far more beauty than it exhibits to the average passerby.
We spent quite awhile exploring the many angles of a beautiful brick building covered in vines. The leaves of the ivy were all shades of red and gold, and against their brick backdrop they were just amazing. We were fortunate we were there that day, too, because I walked by last week and all the leaves had fallen.
These final pictures remind me of something I learned from an artist (brian jones) I met once. He’s a painter, but he dabbles in photography, and he told me, “inside every shot you take, there’s the shot you were meaning to take. always remember the power of cropping.”
I’ve been shooting pictures in RAW format lately, and while they take up amazing amounts of space on my memory card, they are highly editable and so worth it. I cropped this picture down to my favorite little corner, and it’s an entirely different picture. Definitely a fun lesson. And the picture size was so enormous that this cropped version is still huge! I love my camera.
It was a wonderful visit and it was so nice to savor and capture the beautiful fall weather before it turned too chilly. There aren’t many things better than quality time with my awesome aunt and my camera!
