In My Neighborhood

Volume 01

I started a photographic practice when I quit my job in November of 2023. I was walking to the gym in my home town everyday, taking the same route every time. Passively putting one foot in front of the other with my focus on the destination. One morning I met a friend for coffee on the way to the gym and we discussed his potential interest in photography. “I would love to bring a camera with me traveling and get into it that way but I wouldn’t want to walk around town here and do it. It looks the same as it always has”, he proclaimed.

“Well, you’d quite literally be looking at this place through a different lens if you had a camera with you.” That’s when I decided to bring my camera with me everyday on the walk to the gym. The self assigned photo project turned into a practice of present awareness.

What I noticed during my daily practice changed the way I saw and felt about the town I grew up in. This jaded fog slowly started to burn off. I looked forward to the walk to and from the gym more than the workout. Many days I wouldn’t pick my camera up to make a photo, but it was on my shoulder every time. This practice helped to heal wounds and allow me to see the gift that was my childhood upbringing in this town. From jaded depression to deep soul filling gratitude.

I have since moved to San Diego. I continue this practice on my daily walks, often with my Leica M3 on my shoulder. This time, I am not trying to remove a fog, but practicing present awareness in a neighborhood that becomes more familiar with each step. But, with each step that I take with the camera on my shoulder, it is revealed to me that I am never walking through the neighborhood as I left it the day before. Subtle changes, new details noticed, flowers in and out of bloom. The neighborhood is always evolving. As it changes, as do I.