Runcible Blog

Andrè Kertesz once remarked (according to my fuzzy memory anyway) that "everything is picture" (English wasn't his first language). He considered almost anything in daily life worth photographing. Although I'm not in Kertesz's league, I've been feeling similarly inspired lately while driving around town. Friday and Saturday nights I patrolled Lawrence, listening to my scanner and looking for photo opportunities. Lawrence is actually quite busy on weekend nights, I've learned. Unfortunately I'm not courageous enough to walk around by myself downtown. My main concern is that I don't know where I could park my car and expect to find it intact when I return. The Park, Myrtle, Arlington, and Lawrence Street area seems to be the most "active" at night.

So while I'm driving around I'm seeing all sorts of potential photographs and imagining how they might look, but I haven't taken any pictures yet. How sad. Once I get a better feel for the city I'll venture from my steel and bondo confines (much like a diver wandering from his shark cage). I'd hate to play the race card, but I haven't noticed many fellow crackers hanging out in Lawrence at night. Also, Lawrence is not Boston -- Bostonians and Cambridge folk (?) are used to seeing snot nosed kids with cameras on the street. Lawrencians, it seems, are more suspicious and paranoid. So, my minority status combined with a somewhat photographer-hostile town makes for an awkward environment. I shouldn't make excuses though.

On another note, I've been thinking about documentary filmmaking. PBS and even HBO make some excellent documentaries that are really inspiring. I'm not sure if I'd be interested in or capable of making a video documentary though. I wonder if it's possible to convey the same ideas and emotions in the same hard-hitting style using still photographs rather than video or film. Well I know it's possible, but I don't see many examples in "mainstream" media. I shouldn't even mention the Eagle Tribune's sorry excuses for photo essays. Bleh.