mobile

I was out the other night on a regular walk through my neighbourhood. There isn’t a time or day blocked off on my weekly schedule for this jaunt, I just like to get out and think on things and get a little exercise whenever the mood strikes.

I used to take these walks with a different focus in mind (pardon the soon-to-be-revealed pun) and that was to grab my camera and get out for a photowalk. I’d capture a few scenes, photograph people and urban streetscapes and almost always, I’d snap something that I thought turned out really well and would surely head me in the direction of home for immediate upload to flickr.

And now…not so much.

As mentioned, I do get out for walks but now I rarely take my camera with me. I can’t tell if it’s because I’m slumping or worse…slipping. I don’t feel that the passion for photography and what I perceive is an eye for it has diminished in any way but the mood just isn’t striking as much as it has in the past.

So back to the other night…
As I was heading back home, coffee in hand and deep in thought, I almost missed this slice of life that resulted in a neat little image. I walked by this ‘Guy In Bus Shelter’ and out of some weird compulsion I turned back to take a second glance. He was standing inside the shelter and was obviously writing on the walls (with his finger…no ink). What immediately caught my eye about this scene was that there was a great deal of condensation on the glass walls of the shelter and combined with his dark silhouette and traffic light illumination from the distance…all the ingredients were present to capture a noteworthy image.

And, you guessed it…I didn’t have my camera.

However, I did have my phone on me so I approached the fellow in the shelter, asked him if he wouldn’t mind me taking his picture and he obliged. So he went back to writing and I went back a fair distance and did my best with what tools were at my disposal. The result was interesting (enough that I think it warrants a blog post) and as technically proficient as an iPhone can muster but far from what I would have liked had I been brandishing a real camera at arms length as I have in the past.

Perhaps that’s it though…just utilizing what you have when you are stricken with the need to capture a moment. I wonder how this image might have turned out if I had the abundance of settings a dSLR provides? I’m sure the limitation of photographic options in this case plays a part in the way it’s viewed, but I’m also thinking that along with the list of ingredients that make up this shot…a splash of spontaneity and a cameraphone as a mixing spoon might have been the way to go.

I’d love to know your thoughts.

Thanks
e.