6.19.10 – Exploration

Recently I was re-watching Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas. The special edition contained a booklet, which had excerpts of his book Written in the West that contained photographs, and comments, from the trips he made out west during pre-production of the film. One such comment he made (“photography often tends to become impossible in a place you’re already familiar with”) struck me.

When I began learning still photography ten years ago, I photographed every nook and cranny in my home, in my neighborhood, and at my friends’ homes. After a while, I stopped doing this, partially due to frustrations in my life and work that were overwhelming me, but I also think it had to do with not having a need to explore and document the same things over and over again. I would shoot like crazy once I was away on vacation somewhere else, but then put the camera away again, once I was home. Somehow having a new tool/toy makes everything look fresh again. I wish I would have thought of that sooner.