When you go out with your camera you really never know what you might find out there. You might be going to a natural place, a farmers market, or an amusement ride. But you never really know what treasures will turn up! So it’s always fun to go with an open mind and try to be as flexible as possible so I will see extraordinary pictures in ordinary places.
One weekend, at the end of teaching a workshop at Pt. Reyes National Seashore, I was part of the class wide effort to cleanup afterwards. But as I opened the janitor’s closet, I stopped as I saw these brooms. They were all stacked up and had great repetition to them. In my overworked imagination, they looked like a platoon of brushes from a Pixar animated movie, and I half expected them to step out on their own and begin sweeping in synchronized unison across the floor. I wouldn’t let anyone touch them until I got my picture - one of the few I made that weekend since I don’t photograph a lot while teaching.
This past week, while teaching a workshop in Coupeville, WA, I took my group to a small private vineyard, where the owner had an old Cord (car) and some wine barrels, an antique oak tasting bar, player pianos being restored, and a flower garden and cats. It was a ‘wild card’, but one of the students had been there and felt it had potential for good pictures. He was right. But when we got there, it was difficult to see the pictures at first, beyond just the car. With determination, I had them looking for the unusual image, as a sort of treasure hunt. Once they got started, I asked the owner, Frank, to show me those player pianos he was working on. I’ve always loved them. So we went into this cinder block building, and it was chaos in there. There were some beautiful finished units along the wall, but many of them were in various stages of assembly and repair. I didn’t really see anything to photograph, but I did love the music that came out of the reproducer piano that was in progress of being restored - so expressive, it was like Rachmaninov was sitting right there! I thanked him, and left the building to go help my students. But while I was out there, a few more went in, and the honky-tonk music that was coming out of one of the finished units drew me back. When I went in this time, I took my camera and tripod. There, inside a cabinet of on player piano, lay the piles of scrolled music - and the lyrical way it folded back on itself had such rhythm. I had found my treasure for that day. A lyrical image - in the form of paper with punch-holes!
For me, these two images represent the potential that’s around any corner, anywhere. If I learn to see well, I can make ordinary objects look great! The treasure was the knowledge that beauty and interest lies right around every corner.
Really cool images, Brenda. I love the photos! And your analogy is right on the money.
Posted by: Jim Miotke | August 03, 2005 at 12:27 PM