To Photowalk is a verb and one of my (Rob) favorite terms of photography. It is right up there with portrait, moment, and light. I enjoy photowalking with a group, with Julie, or by myself. I love being out with my camera and exploring an area. It can be a thrilling place or a very normal place; it doesn’t really matter and is enjoyable all the same.

I came across this quote by David Lee about photowalking and really enjoy how noble it makes photowalking sound. 🙂

This purity of purpose allows liberation. Walking with a camera strips out unnecessary motion: that message, meeting, email, or phone-call can wait. Exquisitely boring for anyone but the photographer, in the outside the camera provides enough companionship for necessary solitude. 

A camera’s field of view literally, emotionally and psychologically removes the real world and draws you into the fantasy world of the subject. You need only have visited a cinema to understand the magical function of a camera lens as a portal into another captured world.

Walking through the viewfinder, your eyes enjoy a journey over unmarked shapes, tiny lines and great curves though once you have reached this fantasy crest of photographic purity you must be careful not to tumble too far down the other side.

The nature of a dedicated photo-walk is such that it draws you to the detail or the slice: the shot. Something easily forgotten amidst drones and wide-angles lenses, in a genre historically served on postcards, magazine covers or computer desktops. To be drawn to “the detail” does not necessarily refer to the macro, it can apply as equally to a mountain pass as a blooming flower.

By David Lee at https://www.st-artmagazine.com/photography/2018/10/11/david-lee-through-the-viewfinder

For our anniversary last month Julie gifted me something I had no idea that I was missing. She gave me more opportunities to take my camera out the door and Photowalk. The gift is a little leather pouch designed to protect my camera. Now, any bag that I’m already using (such as a work bag, hiking bag, mountain biking bag) is magically transformed into a camera bag. I had no idea I was missing this and I’m so excited about it!

After work on Friday I tried out the bag (stored safely in my work bag) on the way home from work on public transit. I take public transit a few times a month when I’m in the mood and there is always something interesting happening. Here are a few quick shots from my commute on Friday. Not anything particularly amazing, but these are places I go frequently and found it fun to photowalk these areas.

This toy reminded me of one Madeleine had so many years ago. It is hard for adults to contemplate how much comfort these things can bring into the life of a small child. They are kind of amazing.

The sun setting in the western sky reflected off the east-facing window on the train, creating a sort of false double exposure effect. Loved it.

These cables sit up there doing their job day in and day out delivering power to our businesses and homes.

I appreciated how the setting sun illuminated these cars and also liked the rail embankment in the foreground.

Hope you enjoyed this little view into my first photowalk commute. I hope to do it much more frequently.