Sunday, January 23, 2011

A Practice of Habit


I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I feel it's worth repeating now and then. I carry a camera with me every time I walk out the door. Even if I'm only walking the three blocks to the corner market and back.

I'm not expecting anything spectacular to happen in that short period of time, but I'm always looking. I'm looking at the light, the shadows, the reflections, approaching things at a different angle to see how they look despite the fact I've walked by them a million times. Sometimes I notice a house freshly painted a totally different color than the week before. Sometimes a crowd has gathered to board the arriving streetcar and their arrangement creates a most interest tableaux. Most often I see little things: a momentary stillness in a patch of warm sunlight or a shadow intersecting the corner of a building forming an interesting angle.

This habit is part of my practice as a photographer. It is "a practice" not simply practice, though it is that too. It is my life as a photographer.

Photo: ©2011 David W. Sumner

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