This urban madonna is in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. I was dropping off a People at Work Show invitation to one of the men whose portrait will be exhibited. I had to park on a side street as there was a huge Road Closed sign on Butler Street. I parked, crossed the street and saw the white angels and Mary statue right in front of me. This city yard so tidy and green with lots of blessings from all the holy statues, indoors and out.
Someone placed a bouquet in the crook of her arm. Today’s post remembers friend and poet Christina Murdock who passed one year ago today, a week short of her thirtieth birthday.
from Let it Be by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
When I find myself in times of troubleMother Mary comes to meSpeaking words of wisdom, let it be.And in my hour of darknessShe is standing right in front of meSpeaking words of wisdom, let it be.Let it be, let it be.Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
The theme this week seemed the most cryptic to me to decipher. I looked at the excellent example by Christopher Martin and read about how to go deeper into the scene. What to do when you are actually photographing. How to go “beyond the obvious”.
I didn’t go out and shoot specifically for the challenge but looked at what I had in my archives and tried to look into the photograph to see a whole new photograph within the image. Showing both photographs seemed the way to go so as to compare but I have decided to try to go with the challenge as intended, instead of justifying my edits.
One thing I learned- I photograph the obvious and need to consider the photograph hidden within the one that presents itself. We’ll see how it goes in the weeks to come. Intentional lost in the detailsphotographs instead of edited ones I have already taken. I will look for the picture within the picture as I shoot.
My theme might have ended up being “Crop in the Details” as I try to notcrop my images. Once I read about not cropping in an article Henri Cartier-Bresson.
So by looking for the “lost” part of the challenge I definitely “found” some new photographs.
Viewers can judge if the choices I made for the challenge are successful or not.
I could sift through thousands of urban photographs for this week’s challenge: urban.
There are the suburban shots of the family in my file folders, too.
Choosing a cohesive urban series was my personal challenge. The most searched term on my blog and a true urban image is NYC Rooftops at Night which I posted in 2009.
I live and work in the city of Pittsburgh, driving across bridges and past demolitions, playgrounds and chain link fences. There are skyscrapers and empty lots. When I visit my sister in lower Manhattan there are hundreds more images to shoot and file. And why not throw in a couple from Zagreb where Matthew lives?
So much for a cohesive series. Here are my urban selections for this week’s challenge. A couple will be familiar if you’ve followed me for more than a year.
