Disconnecting & Reengaging Through Photography
An unexpected benefit of making photographs again
I started making photographs over 50 years ago. My big sister took a photography course in college and let me use up the last few frames of film after she did her weekly project. She forgot to tell the instructor the last six slides from the roll weren’t hers, and he critiqued them after commenting on the work for her assignment.
My photos got high marks, and with that encouragement, I started making photos whenever I could.
Fast-forward to the early 2000s, I was burning out on doing portraits and fashion work — basically work that others wanted — and I put all my equipment away.
It wasn’t until mid-January of 2024 that I made anything besides family or vacation/sightseeing photos. I was heading to the bar (Italian for coffee shop) my wife’s daughter works at for a cappuccino. To get there I had to cross a footbridge and saw a beautiful vista of the hills to the East of town — see above. Just as I was about to make a photo of the scene, a kid threw a stone in the direction of the gulls that were floating on the river below. Angered by the ancient projectile, the gulls flew into my scene.
Initially I was irritated at the kid for ruining my photo — but I quickly realized that these…
