Image-ination

I went for a walk in the neighbourhood the other evening. It was a beautiful evening and I had to get out, if only to feel the late day sun and smell the air. Late spring air smells lovely.

I found myself stopping at various points along the way: watching a neighbourhood baseball game, greeting a neighbour out with his family, watching some kids skateboarding on the oval. And something unusual happened. I started taking pictures, without a camera.

No, I’m not insane or losing it. I did have my cellphone with me. Instead, I found myself looking at scenes and imagining how I would photograph them, with no intent of doing so. Without a camera, I had time and latitude to assess the entire scene, I had time to parse it into vignettes, I had time to come up with some creative alternatives. It was a fascinating thing.

When I studied video production (for one semester) in my post-retirement college education stint, I found myself looking at movies in a whole new way too. Lighting decisions were more apparent, camera angles hit me square in the face, and dialogue and sound effects were assessed as bang-on or not fitting the scene they surrounded. I was able to see why the cinematography worked or didn’t work. It was an ah-ha moment. My neighbourhood walk on this evening was the same.

My trek around the neighbourhood without a camera also meant that I had nothing to share to give evidence of my wonderful creativity, except for what was in my own mind. It’s equally amazing to me how liberating that was. Instead of reaching for my phone to snap and instantly post something with some catchy line showcasing my wit, I got home, I just grabbed a cold drink, went out on the patio, and replayed what I saw in my mind.

I’m not advocating that this become a ritual activity for any amateur photographer. But if you are in a bit of a slump creatively, or maybe need some new ideas for future outings, a trip around the neighbourhood on a beautiful spring evening might just be the ticket.

Interestingly, I’ve also discovered that there are clear, acrylic compositional guides available for just such an imaginary photography tour. You can keep them in your pocket. They replicate the standard compositional lines that we label as the “rules” of composition (rule of thirds, golden ratio, Fibonacci sequence). Just hold them up to your scene. Where can you get them? Amazon of course.