Thursday, June 12, 2008

My First Phlog


So I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but blogging is, like, so five minutes ago. But phlogging, that is the new hip thing to do. Actually, I have no idea if it’s hip or not - I just can’t think of anything in my real life that would be interesting enough for other people to want to read about. I do, however, have a fondness for photography and believe that many a good conversation can begin with a picture. It is worth 1000 words, after all.

I think it’s quite obvious why this photo is called “Feet,” but that’s about the only obvious thing about it. I took this picture about a year and a half ago at an overlook to the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m sure some of the tourists there were very confused as they were rapidly snapping shot after shot of the infamous bridge. Why would someone be standing there, looking out over San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, taking pictures of the ground? Well I don’t really know either. I was just standing there with my friends, and something about how that particular shot looked in my lens seemed interesting to me.

Maybe I felt like tons of people had taken the exact same photo of the Golden Gate Bridge before me and tons of people after me would continue the trend, but nobody would ever take that particular photo of those particular sets of feet ever again. I was the first and only. Or maybe I just thought my friend’s pink shoes were noteworthy. I suppose I also really liked the open space in the center of the frame with the most interesting subject all the way in the corner, while the lines of the sidewalk break draw your eye right to it.

Probably, though, somewhere in my subconscious the writer in me liked how the photo illustrated the differences in my two friends, just by showing their feet. I could give you whole biographies of “Pink Shoes” and “Loafers,” but I think you already have a pretty good idea of who they are. You might just be able to come up with entire character profiles based solely (no pun intended) on the footwear choices of these two people. What do these shoes say about them? How did two people with such vastly different styles end up engaged in conversation? They are, by the way, clearly engaged in conversation - just look at the body language of their feet! No way are these two strangers who happened to be standing next to each other looking at a bridge. They’re acquainted for sure, probably even friends, despite their differences. That, I suppose, is far more interesting to me than a bridge that has been photographed by photographers that are far more talented than I am. I’ll leave the scenery shots to them.

CB

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