Two Weeks, Part 11

June 01 to 15

I’ve been able to get out with a camera every day in the last two weeks. Often thinking a lot about “tourist in my hometown”. What would I be thinking and feeling and looking at if I were German or South African or Japanese and I came to hang out in Tacoma for a few weeks and get to know the city?

Does Tacoma even have that much to do and see?

I’ve come around on just letting photos speak for themselves. A lot of hay is made online about “telling the story” with pictures. And that’s fine! There’s huge value in that and I often aim for it. I am also mostly a “form” photographer, just snapping a photo at something because it feels right. I have no deep meaning, no emotional scene, no theme…it just is visually interesting. Perhaps that’s fine too.

Turns out there’s “visual interest” all over: the mountain is the obvious one, but also Commencement Bay and the TAM and conservatory and downtown and my own front yard. Everything in the place contributes to the place, what a shock. It’s easy to forget when you’re familiar.

I’m going to continue the streak of getting out. I want to try and level up a bit by finding visual coherence across all these outings. Maybe figuring out threads across two or ten different sets of photos in a place. My ultimate goal is to have a feel for what works so I can reliably find those threads even if I’m not in a place for long.

Anyway, enough whingeing. Pretty pictures and such. This past weekend I was in Austin for a family event; I didn’t specifically “go and shoot” but there were many photos otherwise. Family outings are always a good time.