Where no one looks
London, ON, May 2009
About this photo: Thematic Photographic celebrates black and white week. You can, too, simply by heading here.Rules and photography don't exactly mix, at least as far as I'm concerned. There's a certain conventional wisdom among the point-and-shoot set that dictates the kinds of pictures that are and are not generally taken. Conventional wisdom subsequently results in conventional outcomes: Groups of folks staring at and smiling at the camera, head-on perspectives of famous buildings, the kind of things that ensure Cousin Sid's slide show will have us asleep within four minutes.
Don't get me wrong: There's plenty of opportunity for the smiling groups and the big, tall, iconic buildings, the birthday cakes and the pre-prom corsage pictures. But there's got to me more, too, because otherwise there are entire swaths of the planet that are completely ignored.
As an example, I'd like to present this loading dock at the back of a local mall. Shoppers don't give it a second thought as they rush inside in rapt anticipation of a new sweater that's more wanted than needed. Which likely explains why I'm drawn to it. Because it explains the background that makes the foreground possible. Because if I don't tell its story, no one will. That and I have no interest in telling the same story as everyone else.
Your turn: Taking pictures no one else does. Why?
