New Beginnings — STREET SILHOUETTES

June gloom. The days are always like this. However, I am not in Southern California. The overcast weather and low morning temperature are just a fact of life here in the Pacific Northwest. Personally, I like it here. It reminds me of the fabled Shangri-la (a.k.a. Yunnan Province, China) with its temperate four seasons climate. But unlike Yunnan, the mosquitos in the Pacific Northwest are not particularly poisonous, vicious, or devious. Given that, it’s really a no-brainer that I prefer the Pacific Northwest paradise over Yunnan a hundred times over.

Of course, I’ve never lived in Yunnan Province. So, how would I know? That said, It’s not like I have never been there. More than a decade ago, I had the privilege of chaperoning a former Miss Universe during a Miss China Universe competition. I have to say, the weather was indeed lovely in Yunnan. However, the mosquitos there - the Aedes Albopictus variety - were vicious. Though to be fair to Yunnan Province, Asian Tiger Mosquitos, as they are more commonly called, are everywhere in East Asia and also in a large swath of North America.

But, they’re not in the Pacific Northwest. So for the first time in over a decade, I wear shorts and short sleeves during the summer months. It is so liberating not to worry about mosquitos biting you multiple times over and over - on your ankles, wrists, and inner thighs. How the fear of their poisonous bites drove me completely mad in my vigilance towards staving off that acute histamine reaction from happening. Windows were always shut at home. Eating al fresco was out of the question. And, I never left home without my Bite Away® heat pen.

Sherwood, Oregon - Leica M11 + Leica APO 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH-M

Indeed, it was a new beginning. All of a sudden, life was better. Fresh air filled my lungs. No longer was I piled by the denseness of a concrete urban jungle. I had space to explore some of my dormant ambitions. I started to trail run in the national parks and forests near me. And with a sizable garage and parking pad, I began to fill it up with the last hurrah of internal combustion cars. This new beginning was good. That said, something was still missing in my life. It was this dog and pony show. I missed having a creative outlet for my idle thoughts.

But without my network in Hong Kong and especially without my partners-in-crime, how was I to proceed? In a matter of speaking, I was venturing into terra incognita. So, do I just go around walking by myself? It is not as if I’ve never taken landscape photos before. And from past experiences, the solitude can be quite therapeutic - to just do whatever I want to do without having to give direction to a subject. It’s a nice change in pace when I do not have a subject to consider in framing. I can slow down and really open my eyes to my surroundings.

Without a subject between my viewfinder and the background, I begin to see the world around me with a little more attention. The breadth of my field of vision that I would have normally regarded as decorative in support of my subject suddenly becomes the actual subject of my composition. In doing so, I begin to weave together my visual predilection of landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects in an effort to create an editorialized photo narrative. I suppose what I hope to do is show you what I found appealing about my selected location.

So, is it really a new beginning? To photograph landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects. I don’t know? It’s not quite what I do. Granted, I do like the change in pace and the solitude it brings. However, I do miss that more animated pace and the interaction I have with my subject. It’s not all just giving direction. It’s also talking nonsense in between shots. Or is it really nonsense? What might not be initially obvious in the photos I take of my partners-in-crime are instances of serendipity that could only have occurred through real life interaction.

In our post-covid reality, with remote work still observed by many employers, we seem to forget how valuable in-real-life interaction is. There are quantifiably meaningful benefits when people work in close proximity with one another. In academic terms, this benefit is called the economies of agglomeration. In a nutshell, what this term states is that the outcome of people working closely together is an increase in productivity from greater innovation, given that ideas are more naturally shared and developed between people in the same setting.

Mind you, it’s not as if my collaboration with my partners-in-crime reaches the standard of population clusters in Silicon Valley, comprising of engineers and venture capitalists developing next generation technology. That said, I do benefit from the constant exchange of ideas with my partners-in-crime that fills our photowalks. Not surprisingly, what generally begins as subject direction invariably ends up as subject exploration - upgrading unilateral instructions into collaborative studies of possibilities for optimizing a photo opportunity’s potential.

It’s that collaborative aspect in optimizing a photo opportunity’s potential that I miss when I hide away behind my camera’s viewfinder photographing landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects. Yes, I do feel like I’m retreating from the world now that I am no longer collaborating with someone else. From time to time, I guess retreating from the world can be therapeutic, as I have already stated. That said, too much time to myself isn’t something I want indefinitely. When it comes right down to it, I need to have someone in front of the camera.

Photographing landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects lacks feedback. Why feedback is important to me, I really cannot say. I suspect that feedback from a subject makes the photo taking process feel real from a cognitive perspective. Interacting with a collaborator triggers that part of my mind which makes that act more involving of my attention. It is building a connection with the subject, negotiating the relationship between the subject and the background, and leading subject direction so that it can transform into subject exploration.

Viewed in that light, collaborating with a subject is cognitively more stimulating that the solitude gained from taking photos of landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects - despite the short term therapeutic benefit of being alone on a photowalk. How true that is. To be perfectly clear, I do not remember a single detail of my experience taking photos of landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects. However, I do remember many details of my collaborative experiences taking photos of my partners-in-crime. I think that means something.

So is this a new beginning? In a manner of speaking - yes, no, and maybe. Fact is, I am who I am. I take photos of my partners-in-crime. That said, I can also take photos of landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects from time to time. A little time to myself isn’t the end of the world and can be therapeutic. As such, it kind of is a new beginning for me. And as such, it definitely is more of the same old same old churned out by yours truly on this dog and pony show. Anticlimactic, I know. But at least this blog will chug away on its third iteration.

Now for the difficult part. Away from Hong Kong and my network of collaborators, how am I to get back on the saddle again for this dog and pony show? How do I proceed? This truly is terra incognita - to be alone without anyone to photograph. Well, I am sure there will be a kind person out there willing to help out a down-and-out content creator like yours truly coming out of early retirement. There better be, since I do not know how much longer I can take photos of landscapes, architecture, and inanimate objects that do not give me feedback.

In any event, I won’t have to deal with vicious mosquitos anymore, now that I am here in the Pacific Northwest. With that change in my life, you think that I would be more eager to go out on photowalks. However, I really do not know the Pacific Northwest all that well. It’s not as if I know where to go on my photowalks. That said, it is a beautiful place here with beautiful people. Being here makes me never want to go back to Hong Kong or New York, for that matter. Besides, how would I find the space for all my cars living in Hong Kong or New York?

If there were ever a place like Eden, it would be here in the Pacific Northwest. It really is paradise on Earth. But I would avoid the bigger cities around here. They have all the problems of bigger cities with half the amenities and cachet. That said, I am happy that Portland and Seattle are around. Otherwise, paradise can get a little bit boring.

Last, it is not as if I have something against taking photos of landscapes, architecture, inanimate objects, still life, nature photography, or any other genre of photography that doesn’t involve a subject. Fact is, those genres of photography are not for me.

Last, why Sherwood, Oregon? On Saturday mornings, it is the site of the area’s only cars and coffee!

Disclaimer

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Disclaimer

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