I had a nice conversation with my good friend Susan who is wandering around on Duval Street in Key West, while the rest of us are knocking ice sickles off of our cars. She's down there writing a book and we were talking about how there are places in the world that trigger your consciousness differently. The whole idea of going to Key West to write a book made perfect sense to me. It has a long history of art and culture and puts you into a creative mood. You know, the whole quit your job and run away to Margaritaville thing really appeals to me.
I've travelled to a lot of places that sound good when you're doing the research and then don't live up to your expectations when your standing there. I lot of people have told me that they don't understand my fascination with places like New Orleans' French Quarter and Key West was on the list of confusion as well. They say that it's a nasty, dirty place. It's old and mildewed and there's too many bums in the streets and it isn't safe. I guess they're looking for a 5-Star hotel and a T-shirt that says they've been somewhere.
So that got me to thinking, well, ok, what they said is technically true. These places are a little dingy and sometimes scary, so why am I fascinated with them? I've traveled enough to know that a lot of places are going to be disappointing. It's hard for a place to live up to some storybook image you have in your head. And the bigger your wish list is, the more of a let down it is going to be.
As a traveler, I see the same things that most people see. When i'm standing on Bourbon Street and it smells like yesterday's garbage, i'm not immune to it. On the other hand, as a photographer, I also see it for what it "could" be, and maybe that is the difference. I go to a place that has some nice raw materials and try to create alchemy from the little movies going on inside my head. Clients hire me for my attention to detail and ability to see what others pass by. Sometimes it's backwards, and i'm forced to leave out the details in order to see a place the way I wish it was.
I watched an interview with famed Harper's Bazaar photographer Richard Avedon recently. He said that what it meant to be an artist, was to pay attention to what everyone else wants to discard and get rid of as quickly as possible. An artist has to study, scrutinize and find the garbage essential and relevant in an effort to close the gap between what happened and what we understand.
That is a great analogy of photography. To find extraordinary in the ordinary. To isolate and choose what you "want" to see, rather than merely photographing what is in front of you.
