It’s rained and rained here for what feels like weeks. Every now and again the rain stops and the sun might show its face briefly – but not necessarily at a time I can get out with my camera. Which has made me think a lot about opportunity generally. I live between 2 small county cities and a bunch of rural market towns – none of which are particularly inspiring in terms of street photography. They are all a very long way from anything resembling urban or gritty! But it is perhaps too easy to blame ones circumstances for a lack of inspiration. There are some great photographers out there who have made a name out of photographing the mundane and the very ordinary scenes around them eg. Stephen Shore, William Egglestone. It is easy for me to look at their images and envy the wide American ‘scapes on offer to them but I would be missing the point. It is always a subjective journey and it is for me to find a way of reflecting the essence of my own local streets.
Which brings me to the image below. One brief dry afternoon I drove to the edgelands of Worcester (edgelands is a personal project I am pursuing). I walked about for an hour or so with little inspiration and diminishing enthusiasm. And then I discovered this bridge. Initially it was the colours that appealed to me but I quickly spotted the painted yellow figure and thought it would be amusing to juxtapose it with a moving person. It was chance that such a small child appeared running ahead of his mother and even greater chance that I snapped at exactly the right moment. But the visualization was mine and out of something fairly uninspiring I succeeded in capturing a great shot. I was chuffed and it reminded me exactly why I so love the serendipity of street photography.
Jo's learning log 