An Approach to Photowalking
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.
This blog post will introduce an approach to photowalking I've been experimenting with recently. I have always liked taking long walks. Being on foot immerses you in space and allows you freedom to explore details in a unique way. As David Lynch notes in The Art Life: "Huge worlds are in those two blocks," pointing to the fractal complexity of just a small amount of space.
In addition to walks, I also am fascinated with the concept of disposable cameras. We have just a few shots to take before the camera is used up. What do we capture? Instant cameras have a similar allure, but with the benefit of instant feedback.
In an effort to capture the feeling of working with limited film cameras and to bring out the complexities of the world only seen on foot, I have been experimenting with an approach to photowalking. There are only two rules: everything must be taken in one shot, and shots should be chronological. Of course rules are meant to be broken, but this gives us a framework fall back on.
A walk is a series of moments connected together by our footsteps. Single shots force us to be in the moment. Instead of overthinking, we are called to action! This is a perfectly imperfect medium.
As a walk evolves, we too evolve. The things we think about and notice change continuously. The chronological ordering of shots allows our evolution to be captured.
The end result is a single representation of what it was like to take a walk in a certain place, at a certain time. We are forced to inhabit our past self when stepping through photos. Each photo may be captioned with a description or other caption, but this is not a strict requirement.
Through these photowalks we use our camera and our feet to dig, as Seamus Heaney uses his pen. What will we find?
