Here Comes the Neighborhood
November 20, 2008
If you're like most people, you probably think you're different from most people.
Not that I was ever being especially creative or breaking new ground, but this little corner of the city has become so overrun with camera geeks and street art aficionados that it's challenging to get excited about taking pictures around here anymore. There are so many photos floating around the internet of random garbage, graffiti walls, banal industrial buildings under the yellow haze of street lamps, and so on, that I've become redundant.
Whenever I see someone taking a picture, I can't help but mutter sarcastically, "It's for my blog." I'm making fun of myself more than anything, but there's no doubt that the photo being taken will wind up on the internet somewhere.
Deborah joined a gym last night after work. She's been talking about it for months and asked if I wanted to meet her there and join too. I didn't make it. (Although I haven't ruled out the possibility of joining later.) The gym, she said, was pretty low rent, but she didn't mind. Unlike some gyms, this place was less crowded, allowing her to do what she wanted without feeling crowded or harassed.
In any case, while I waited for her to come home for dinner, I bundled up against the cold and went for a walk with my camera. I hadn't done it in a while -- that is, go out for no other reason than to take pictures -- and I was surprised by how busy the neighborhood felt. Part of it was the time of day. The shorter days made it feel later than it was, but it was barely six o'clock, and a lot of people were hustling home from work. It was impossible to get the same sense of desolate wasteland that I used to feel when wandering.
Discouraged by my outing, when Deborah got home, I asked if she would do a photo shoot with me. Not right then and there, I said, but soon. There's nothing particularly original about pictures of pretty girls, either, of course, but it trumps industrial architecture, and I found the prospect more inspiring.
"When I get back in shape," she said.
She looks in perfect shape to me, so I had a hard time envisioning when that might be.
In the meantime, we're going to spend Thanksgiving with our former neighbor, Aide, in her new house upstate. Although her house is big enough to accommodate the ten people she's invited, there are no beds or couches for anyone to crash on, so we decided to book a room in a cheap nearby motel. Cheap motels are usually good photo ops. We'll see.
I'm so often content to post throw-away snapshots of whatever I stumble upon that I'm not sure why I feel the desire to make more of an effort right now. I'm feeling uninspired by the whole blog business, to be honest.
It happens.
