Infinite Universe: December 5th, 2009

Your on-the-spot reporter here with a few textural images to float your way.

I always find it beneficial to carry a camera (well at least one) with me at all times, as you never know when that little voice in your head says you must photograph the deli counter at your favorite local coffee shop. You might catch it on a day when the stuff is fresh out of the big stove in the back of the kitchen and all pristine on it's rack, not yet defiled by the counter knife.

Food is all about texture, at least before the consumption begins. And it seems because everyone eats it, all can relate. Next to music and gardening it may be one of the world's most common denominators.

Of course I can never say enough about nature, and I never will. Be it my mom's prize centerpiece or a happenstance wildflower, you just can't beat it with a stick. Well, I suppose you could, but I would have to severely chastise your motives.
I love textures. I look back at the Instamatic photos I took as a kid and they are nearly all textures. Bizarre camera angles of crumpled up sheets and shiny metal things. I'm glad I took those pictures. And I'm glad I kept them. And I'm glad when some little kid shows me the photo they just took and it seems to be something that only they can see. That's what it's all about. You are teaching yourself photography kid, and you probably don't even realize it! Don't let the 'photo composition mongers' grind you down. Everything's a photo.

Edward Weston had some great quotes about this.
"Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but searching to make the commonplace unusual."
He also said, "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk."

I'm currently trying to find a photo that my landlord wants and I can't seem to find it, because it was something that I didn't think I or anyone else would ever want to see. But he saw a thumbnail of it from an ancient website, and now he wants it.
Twice this week I have had people write to me thinking I was a photographer for the Chicago Sun-Times and asking for certain news photos my namesake had taken over 25 years ago.
How do we know what will define history? We may have to define it ourselves with our photographs.

There are also the photos that a person takes that seem so ordinary. After you see the result you ask yourself, 'Why did I take that? What did I see in it?' Yet, sometimes you can, through the 'magic' of PhotoShop or the like, recapture some of what you saw in your mind. I also believe it was Edward Weston that said something to the effect of, "Most of the photo is in the darkroom."
Our editing software now is the darkroom.

I'm adding one more picture here that I meant to throw into yesterday's 'Architecture' pigeonhole. This photo was taken in 1984 at a place unlikely to be thought of as the location for this scene. Unless maybe you live in Anaheim.