I see a lot of photographs around the internet that are amazingly compelling images of items we see everyday and so often take for granted. These pictures could be of anything – a rope hanging on a wall, a rolled-up garden hose lying on the ground, a mailbox, you name it.
One of the many areas of my photography I am always working to improve is my ability to find compelling subjects in the details of a scene. But, when I see these images, I can’t help but feel a little envious because they emphasize patterns or shapes or some other intriguing detail that, had I been in the same location at the same time, I have to admit I probably would not have even noticed.
When I start to question if I’m getting any better at identifying these subjects that are in plain sight, though, I will look through the images in my archive. Invariably, I will come across a photograph like this that reminds me that improvement is a gradual process that is happening whether I recognize it or not.
A few years ago, I traveled to Denver, Colorado, for a work conference. I wasn’t there very long, just a couple of days. But, I took my camera gear just in case something photographic presented itself. On my last morning there, I had gotten packed up and was getting to head to the airport to catch my flight home. I took a look out my hotel room window one last time and happened to notice a couple of office buildings that were just down the block from my room.
I had been looking at these buildings everyday for my entire trip, but I guess I had never really paid any attention to them. More specifically, I hadn’t paid any attention to the details. I don’t know why, but that morning, I didn’t see a pair of office buildings; I saw a series of lines and patterns that I thought were very photogenic.
Pulling out my camera, I focused on only a section of the buildings. I liked the pattern of vertical lines, but I also liked the horizontal lines on the building on the left as well as the horizontal lines created by the windows on the right building. I thought the contrast between these vertical and horizontal lines created a very interesting subject.
Other than a few basic adjustments, there wasn’t a lot of processing applied to the file. The two biggest changes I made were to apply a square crop to the image, which I thought suited it quite well, and to convert the picture to black and white because I felt the original color distracted from the pattern of lines.