3W3D

3 Ways 3 Days 

My three different modes of travel were walking, bussing, and driving. My method of recording the experience was by photography, as is a usual practice for me when I travel, especially on foot. I had no prefabricated notions of what or how to photograph when I set out out on each occasion, and yet each set of photographs from each excursion has its own unique aesthetic and conceptual criteria. It is important to note here that film, as opposed to a digital, was used, providing the most honest photos, as there was no opportunity to take many and edit, or to choose favorites. In short, there was no option for post processing and selectivity. 

Walking was the most familiar of all the forms of travel, as I often take walks in order to photograph, or conversely, photograph in order to take walks. The kinds of pictures that this generated are common to me: pictures of graffiti, garbage, objects that have been cast down, almost all inanimate things, places, and scenarios. This is the kind of photography I’m used to and what I consider to be normal. Only when bussing and driving with a camera in my hands did I realize the bias of these photos.

It seems that bussing I was totally attracted to reflections, refusing to take a photo of anything that wasn’t outside my window, not wanting to confront the other passengers but still looking for (in reflections) that which was situated on the other side of me, that I couldn’t turn to out of some form of social anxiety. The result is a collection of photos with a certain antisocial logic, that attempts to capture more than what was readily available to me. 

                                    

Driving was awkward. I have taken pictures while driving before, occasionally in the height of traffic, in order to pass time and cure boredom, but I had never intentionally set out to drive while taking photos. The result was something that I did not think was possible: I took many photos of people. Thinking about it now, it makes perfect sense. The perceived safety and disconnection from ones environment that one feels inside a car, especially when driving, lends itself to this sort of nonchalant voyeurism. By being in a car, and not walking out on the street with others, I had a  level of power that allowed me to photograph without worrying about consequences. 

Each way of traveling had its own feel and each, by way of its social and personal implications led to a different sort of of photograph, a different unconscious logic, a different record of the urban landscape.