A Little Break From The Norm
Not quite street photography.
Yes, another setback in my Photographer inspiration blog, it’s April and I’m about 3 photographers behind schedule. But to be honest, I wasn’t really trying to be regimented about my plans. It’s hard to find inspiration in photography sometimes. There are plenty of days where I feel very bored and don’t even want to pick up my camera. Recently my wife and I decided to take a little trip out west. With the pandemic restrictions easing ever so slightly we decided to take a small window of opportunity and fly out to Alberta to take in the sites.
It’s been years since I’ve stepped foot in Alberta and even more since I have seen the Rocky Mountains. My wife on the other hand has never seen the “pretty” part of Canada and I was eager to share that experience with her.
We decided to fly out for an extended long weekend. To maximize our time we took an early morning flight on a Friday and flew back on a red-eye late Sunday night/early Monday morning. Three full days in Alberta. We were determined to make the most of our trip.
What I remembered about this place hadn’t changed. The views were still memorable. On our first day we drove out to Drumheller to see some of the Badlands. Just as I remembered. Not quite the mountains, but just to see these in what is seemingly the middle of nowhere was breathtaking. It made me imagine what the surface of the moon would be like.
On the way to Canmore and Banff, we got off of the Trans Canada highway and cut though Kananaskis area for a slight detour. The mountains were as I remembered. Though how would anyone ever expect them to change in their lifetime?
Landscape photography has always had a special place in my heart. Though I love street and documentary photography, there is something about landscapes that I will never grow tired of. I think it’s important to not let yourself get stuck in one thing. To appreciate all aspects of your art is to give yourself a little break from what you love and to explore other parts of it and still be somewhat connected.
I don’t know if I would ever get tired of the mountains. I certainly hope not. They’re not a place I would want to be tired of. I think with street and documentary photography, things change ever so slightly, so things aren’t ever always the same. Old buildings make way for new ones and people come and go. But mountains? They stay where they are. They are my rock, so to speak. They ground you and remind you of where you are.