This week’s prompt is created to challenge your power of observation and your guts at getting out in public with your camera.
I just finished reading a piece about John Margolies’ Photographs of Roadside America. It was an impromptu read; I was drawn to it because I love seeing what people create when someone had a big idea and the guts to follow through. Giant chicken, check. Leaning tower of “Pizza” in front of a pizza parlor, check. Someone, one day, sat at a table and said, “You know what this town needs? A gas station shaped like a dinosaur!” I highly doubt that these decisions are made based on financials, but rather for the love of sharing something with others. I admire people who can throw practicality to the wind to bring that kind of joy. We move a lot, and those spots are always the one that makes a place feel like home.
Margolies’ photos aren’t stunners. There is no focus on golden hour, straight lines seem optional, and he isn’t doing anything over the top to get the *perfect* angle. To me, it seems like he just wants to ensure that he captures every beautifully quirky place to record their existence. I admire that too. As my family’s documentarian, getting a picture of the moment is always more important than having the ideal photographic conditions.
Assignment: Take a picture of something in your town that is iconic to you. It can be a bit of graffiti, a funny sign, a building that everyone knows (…turn right at the tea kettle restaurant…), etc. It can be a place you pass everyday on your way to work that sparks something in you, and that you want to capture as a part of your history. If you are travelling or just moved, it can be a place that makes you think “hum, they do that here.” Cell phone photos are fine! Basically, focus on finding it, thinking about how you are going to photograph it, and then get your camera out in public and take the shot. It is just icing on the cake if you get layers, repetition, colors, beautiful light, etc.
https://clickinmoms.com/forums/topic/426086-2019-cm-p52-week-36-your-town/
The other weekend we went up to a nearby community for their annual Cider Days festival, and I thought it worked for the prompt. The festival takes place on an old heritage farm, and this shot was of my husband and daughter as they were preparing our apples for the cider press.
