Street Photography That Tells Your Story
This may be too much information, but I have to tell the story in order to make the point I am trying to make in this blog.
I was married to my high school sweetheart. We shared a lot of history. We shared a lot of good memories. When he got sick, we knew the outcome. The question was how much time. It turned out to be 18 months. Most of those months were good, a new normal, but good. It did get harder as time went on. When he was gone, what I remembered was the final 18 months, not the last 40 years. That is actually not uncommon, but it is a pity. Some people move past that selective memory, but I was not one of them, with a single exception. Music can bring back the memories of our life together. I can remember what it felt like to love and be loved. My children do not understand my sappy playlist. I hope they are gathering their own, in case they need it.
So, what does this have to do with street photography? I have come to understand that my street photography can serve a similar function for me. This is actually new news. I started dancing around the topic when I wrote “Thoughts of a Lady Street Photographer” a couple of weeks ago. The next round of understanding came when I posted the new gallery, “It’s a Man’s World”.
As we all do, I have a lot of stories, maybe I should call them themes, about my life. One theme is my long, long list of grievances about being a woman in a man’s world. Mind you, this is solidly in the past, at this point. My interest now is to review this particular story in my life, analyze the part that I played in it, think about how I tried to change the story for my children and, now, observe how my children are further changing the story for their children.
Here is the problem. When I just use words to frame this particular theme of being a female, I can quickly become reactive. That is not very useful. But when I find a photo I have taken that plays to an aspect of that reality, I can say to myself, “Yep, that happened,” and then put it in a context that does not pack an emotional wallop for me.
So far I have found 7 pictures that speak to me about my life and experiences as a woman living in a man’s world. 35,000 pictures taken and I can only find 7? There are two possible explanations. The first is that I was not cognizant that I should be looking for pictures that reflect that reality for me. The second possibility is that there are bunches more, I just have no practical way to find them.
I have other themes. One is about being a mother. The pictures in this blog address that theme. Another is about how I spent my life feeling like I did not belong. Finding mother pictures that resonate with me is fairly easy. How does one photograph the concept of not belonging?
Here is the grand finale. My piece of advice is this: Everyone has life stories, dramatic stories. I cannot help but believe that if you look for opportunities on the street that speak to one of your stories, you will be more likely to take a truly meaningful picture because it has a part of you in it . Maybe it is too early in your life to focus like this. You will still probably take some pictures that reflect your story. By all means, tuck them away in a collection where you can find when the time is right.