Grab ’n’ Go

Do what you can do, with what ya got.

How do you see an area that you’ve photographed multiple times over, from every conceivable angle and type of light, differently than before?

How do you find new pockets in a well-travelled neighbourhood that you already know inside and out?

How do you work a familiar scene in a new way multiple times over?

You don’t. That is, you don’t try to answer these questions or solve these self-inflicted problems time and time again, driving yourself batty in the process. Instead, you just do. You go out, you take the photos, and most importantly, you don’t overthink.

As I’ve mentioned before, I live in an area that is well out of the way; it’s small, quiet, and there’s not a lot happening day to day…or even month to month. It’s remote, people have their routines and don’t tend to stray from them and because of that, I see a lot of the same things everyday.

Like the people who walk their dogs at the same time every evening, the one guy who’s leaving the Tim Horton’s just as we pull up in the drive through, the same red truck that I pass on the same stretch of road every morning. All of this is because I also have my routines and schedule that I need to maintain. So, you end up seeing a lot of the same, and that can be frustrating as a photographer at times, but it can also be a special kind of thing, just depends on how you frame it.

I realized that I had to stop overthinking, and use the little time I have every week to get out and just take photos. I don’t have a lot of time to plan; typically I get short bursts of time (and light) to just pack a camera up and go kill an hour. You can’t get too far in an hour, so I put my brain in neutral, my legs in drive, and just go.

I pass things I’ve shot dozens of times, but we’re not thinking right now, so I take another. Oh that house hits in that light, but I’ve got a shot just like this…doesn’t matter - get low this time and take one more. That sign has a new tag on it, shoot it again. Cool, the tide is high today so I can see more of that fishing boat in the harbour, *snap.

What does that get me?…Well, it gets me a lot of similar photos, that’s what. But if you look closer, it’s a document of the past five years we’ve lived in this part of town.

It’s a permanent record of that house that is slowly falling apart, and the one beside it that just got a new roof.

It’s a collection of my dog in the same park, being the same weirdo as usual.

It’s a document of this little fishing cove.

It’s a document of my home.

It’s a document of my family, friends, and my neighbours.

I use all of this to remind myself that even if I can’t get to new and exciting spots that often, there is merit and value in documenting my everyday, because I didn’t always see it that way. I used to think I needed to go somewhere new every time I grabbed my camera. Luckily, I do get that when I go out with my photography club, Lucky Shot. Those meet ups are once a month, and I only really get out a few more times on top of that. The rest of the time I’m in my hood, or hood adjacent, documenting my well worn paths from the past five years and the next (hopefully) 25+.

All of this helps me when I do find myself somewhere new; I treat it more preciously, use my film more wisely, craft a plan for what I want to get out of my photos there. The other side of that is some ongoing projects I’m doing that also help to provide focus to my shooting when I can. Some of that can even take place in my neighbourhood if I look hard enough.

What I’m saying is I make due, and you should too. As long as you are scratching that itch, that’s all that matters, to me anyways.

Stay focused.