Sunday afternoon overthinking

[scarlettina]

Overthinking, as usual.

Spent the morning with my friend BC in Ballard: We had a tasty brunch at Vera's and then strolled through the Sunday Market.

Generally speaking, I'm not a terribly shy person. But somehow, if I have my camera with me, I get shy pretty damn quick and I'm not sure why. It might have to do with the fact that I've spent so much time by myself. It might have to do with my often having used my camera as a sort of filter in situations I think are cool but in which I'm uncertain how to interact. Take a look at some of my Flickr sets--I rarely take pictures of people unless they're people I know. Having BC with me for moral support (though I'm not certain he understood that to be part of his role this morning), I managed to unclamp my otherwise usually loose lips, talk to folks and take some pictures of stuff I don't usually shoot: people. There are only a few, though. The doggies were out in the market today--Seattle does love its dogs--and a couple of them had wonderful character. I think the doggie shots are my favorites. Here's the set, including a couple of shots of my friend of years, BC.

Comments

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Those portraits are wonderful; really great snapshots of life on the move. Something struck me, though, as I was looking at pictures from all over the world: No one looks happy or relaxed. Everyone looks serious, determined, preoccupied--but no one looks like they're just enjoying themselves. It's actually a little disturbing. I often find that commonalities bind people together. These pictures seem to suggest that we're bound together by the things that pull us apart: worry, tension, isolation, being elsewhere instead of being present. Certainly photography can capture this better than any other medium in terms of immediacy. At the same time, these images show a world that is not necessarily a hospitable place to live.