A walk in the street

For the better part of this year I have spent time travelling the roads of the US as I biked my way around the country.  After a summer of down time in the northern neck of Maine, I have re-entered city life to visit family and catch up with old friends.  While this transition often causes me great angst -- with the sounds and pace of city life, it is one place that I do so love to photograph.  Walking the streets, camera in hand, well it seems to slow everything down and allows me to catch my breath.  I can't really describe it to well, but walking the streets with no camera is an anxious feeling, while walking with camera in hand simply slows down time.  I would imagine that this is how the great masters of street photography felt as they silently and patiently stalked their pray, looking for just the right moments to capture with the silent click of their shutter.

In today's world, it seems everything moves faster and with more noise.  Peace is something that must be searched for in the busy streets of modern day cities, it is illusive and distant.  For whatever reason, when I have a camera in my hand, doing a job, or just for fun, I see the world in a completely different way.  Time slows and shapes and forms come into play. 

I don't see objects in their discrete forms but instead see them as an interplay between light, lines, and occasionaly the absurd juxtaposition.  It is, to say the least, a completely different way of seeing the world.  In an attempt to find my own peace, walking the streets, taking photos, sharing them with others, is one way that I attempt to embrace my own inner creative voice.  The voice that often screems loudly in an attempt to be heard.  It could be akin to the small child throwing a temper tantrum in an attempt to get what it so badly wants.  Camera in hand my inner child begins to quite down, taking a deep breath and ever so slightly smiling at the treat it has just been given.