My new experiment is to take a photo of every day and write a brief blog in response to the image/day. My intention here is simply to notice. Notice what’s around me and how it stirs me (or doesn’t stir me). I hope I’m not too heavy handed in this endeavor.
For this first image, I went outside deliberately seeking something to snap a photo of, and I didn’t like that. It felt too forced. That said, the sky interested me. I had been waiting for a storm to roll in, waiting for days in fact, and have been checking the sky, feeling the wind. Finally, this afternoon, clouds started to gather, and I was able to capture this image of my street with the dark storm clouds threatening to blow over the lighter clouds and sun.
My first thought when I noticed the split sky and the tacky power lines and the sharp symmetry of the houses was “The Steerage.” I am no Alfred Stieglitz (like I need to say that?)…but the power lines reminded me the ropes that line the walkway. And the photo (Stieglitz’s, not mine) does delineate the division between the classes. Well, so maybe there’s something there about demarcation. As for those power lines, I was initially annoyed that there were in the photo in the first place, but now I feel more appreciative of the distinction they add.
Maybe there’s a metaphor here—something about appreciating what appears to be in the way, or making art out of an annoyance.
Hope McAllister Miller 