Footsteps of Old
I’ve always wondered how photographers capture such beautiful architecture in places full of people walking around. Do they just wait up until the crowds go away and that perfect photo? Trash, poles, signs — I call these human junk — piss me off sometimes while I go on my photo adventures because they ruin the shot I have in mind.
While I stand there internally cursing at the trash on the floor with my face behind the camera, I had no idea there was a family waiting for me to finish the job. Slightly embarrassed I step off and move on.
Date Taken: January 2, 2017 | Location: Casa del Prado Threatre — San Diego, CA | Camera: Nikon D3300
| Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6G
| ISO 100 | Exposure 1/100 sec at f/4.5 | Focal length 34 mm
Three things I didn’t like about this photo:
- It’s not 100% straight
- Trash, trash everywhere!
- The people at the end of the hallway
The photo not being straight is an easy fix in Lightroom. The trash, a semi-tedious fix to take all that crap out of there. But one that I struggled with is the people at the end of the hallway.
Yes, I know at the end of the day, blurring out the unimportant background is one of the most common edits you do on a photo. But because the end of the hallway is kind of where all the direction in this photo point to, I wanted to put something of significant meaning there… But what?
At a loss for an answer, I went on a search of some internal insights about how to go on about life and, in particular, my life’s destination. I started thinking about what kind of life do I want to live. Not that I’m unhappy with my current life. I’m doing pretty well I think but my personality demands a definite and measurable goal and it has taken this opportunity to ask me the hard questions. What do you envision your life to be? What would you rather pour your energy into for the rest of your life?
One idea will form in my mind while another idea takes precedence over it.
And then another, and another.
I was overwhelmed.
I can’t commit to an answer.
I gotta step off.
Then again, the future is always vascillating. I could want one thing and in a few years, another. Who knows? We all grow and our worlds grow with us.
With this, I wen’t on ahead blurring out the end of the hallway so you can make out shapes but not really know what it is. Much like the future… You can take a good guess but you’ll never know what’s to come for sure.
If this photo is so much about the future and what’s to come, why was it called the Footsteps of Old? Aside from the obvious reason that this building is old (circa 1915), I also had the idea that it is our past actions that can lead us to the future. Knowing this, I thought about making sure that my present is happy and content so that my future will reflect that also. Having such old beautiful hallway architecture that leads up to the end of the hallway, is a metaphor for this concept:
The footsteps of old will lead us to the doorway of the future.
Date Taken: January 2, 2017 | Location: Casa del Prado Threatre — San Diego, CA | Camera: Nikon D3300
| Lens: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6G
| ISO 100 | Exposure 1/100 sec at f/4.5 | Focal length 34 mm
Originally published at charly pura.
