Philadelphia, PA
These past few weeks have been rough. To expand on my last blog, I’ve been struggling with creative identity. I’ve been feeling trapped, confined, to nature photography. And there’s nobody to blame but myself and my own thoughts. It’s like a prison that I built myself and I’m the one holding the key. But that’s enough self pity boo-hooing.
This past weekend, the family and I spent in our local Philadelphia, PA (or as us locals call it “Philly”). Our middle child had a gymnastics competition and we thought it better to just get a hotel from Friday to Sunday to make it all more stress-free. See, I love the city when it comes to people watching, photography, the museums, among other stuff to do, but I HATE driving to and in the city. This way, we could take our time and not get stressed with finding parking.
Obviously, the main objective of the journey was watching our little girl compete. And it was awesome! Long story short: She had a great time, had fun, and took home some medals! I could go on-and-on like the proud father I am, but this is a photography blog.
Secondary to the gymnastics competition was my Fujifilm X-Pro2 that I stuffed in the top of my sole backpack. For the past few weeks, I’ve been studying the works of Saul Leiter and Fred Herzog. I’ve also been brushing up on some street photography inspiration from guys like Billy Dinh and pages like The Independent Photographer. Two of my obsessions as of late. Other than that, I didn’t have much of a plan. Maybe I would get up early and walked the city as the family still stayed cozy in bed. Maybe the sun would shine and I could get some nice light and shadow contrast photos. I had some ideas. But no plans.
As it turned out, my body shamed to have the same desires as my mind. I woke up later than normal and we all wanted breakfast. And despite the warmer winter weather, the sun didn’t shine. So that idea was out. We ended up walking around center city as a family. No destination. Just go.
The weather was blaa. Not quite raining. Misty at best. Tops of sky scrapers hid behind the high fog making the buildings seem endless. The kids marveled over the homeless and the occasional bottle filled with urine. All while being kids. Walking curbs like tightropes. And constantly being told to not keep walking into crosswalks as cars jumped curbs to make their turns.
Thankfully, Mommy was there to keep an eye on them as I inevitably drifted off into my camera. With no sun, I decided to focus on framing. Through a fence here. In a puddle there. I was lost in the photography moment. It all mirrored what I feel when I’m walking in the woods looking for wildlife.
It was a moment of realization for me. I’ve been yearning for some sort of urban photography these past few weeks. Architecture or street. Anything but birds. What I felt was it’s not about the scene, but the just being behind the camera that I love. But the city did give me something new to look forward to.
Even now as I edit them at home, I am back on the street. Behind the camera. Hopefully, I’ll stick with this rejuvenated adventure into urban photography and go out with specific ideas in mind. It’s exciting.
