Looking Down
For a number of years I walked roughly forty minutes each way to and from work. The same years also found me with a camera in my possession most of the time and while I certainly look all around me when walking, when I am walking with purpose the space directly in front of me gets the most attention.
So with all this walking and all of these photos of things that appeared in my way it became almost a running joke that I exclusively took photos of things on the ground. The thing this does in many people’s minds is to make them think of trash. What’s on the ground? Crap. Stuff no one wants.
Whoops. <har har> The thing is, there is beauty there too. It could be just the light glancing in a golden way. Or maybe something broken forms itself into something new and beautiful in its altered context beneath our feet.
It might just be a texture or a colour that suddenly feels stronger than all the other colours.
Down isn’t low. It’s not debased, disgraced, or discarded. Down is just in front of us.
Down might be a dark bag that feels so beautiful to you and you fight against the jokey irony of some American Beauty reference. Because that plastic bag in the wind that Ricky videotaped was captivating. Because fleeting and “meaningless” things can take on meaning for us in the moment.
