I’m on an Urban Walkabout… with an iPhone
So just what is an “Urban Walkabout” and what does it have to do with images and creativity? I’m glad you asked. I refer to myself as being on a walkabout, with an iPhone. It’s become something of a perpetual state with me, and it has both informed and inspired my creativity and image making.
Strictly speaking, most folks associate the term “walkabout” with the third definition of an Aboriginal journey into the wilderness as a type of test of one’s survival skills. I mean it in terms of the first definition and in the purest sense of the word to simply walk about. Here I’m writing about it in terms of the urban environment which, depending on where and when you are walking about, can feel like a somewhat wild and hostile environment, calling upon your personal survival skills 😉. As for me, I’ve wandered the streets of many an urban environment, in cities big and small, at all hours of the day and night, and have honed survival skills as well as been richly rewarded with surprising and unique images for my efforts. But this is about the images you can discover and the creativity this activity can unleash in you.
Some may use the term “Photowalk” to describe this activity, and in fact there has been a huge world-wide movement over the years based on the idea, but that is more of an organized group activity that only tangentially touches on what I mean by an urban walkabout. The image of the chair above was actually captured on one such “Photowalk” I was on. As I wandered down the street with a group of others, I noticed this tableau through a shop window and the way the light was creating such a beautiful scene, I had to photograph it. I think I was the only one who noticed it. So you can find/create beautiful images on a Photowalk, but the Urban Walkabout is an entirely unique experience.
In Stores. Before I became a dedicated mobile Urban Walkabout creator, I would occasionally (usually weekends) explore areas of where I was on foot to see what was what. I often didn’t have the purpose to photograph anything, but just to see and get a “feel” for the area. It was only rather slowly that I started to be purposeful in noticing things that were visually interesting to me. The image above I titled, “Film Noir M” and is an homage to my favorite film genre and a nod to the film “M” which is a classic of the genre starring Peter Lorre. I found it in the display window of an old movie theatre turned antique shop in the heart of a small town where I was living. I find a lot of inspiring images in shop windows, sometimes enhanced by the reflections in the glass. Although this image was taken a number of years ago, it took more than ten years for it to reach its final iteration here and become the image it was meant to be. For me, it works on multiple levels as to its title.
These two images above were also found on display in store windows. Often times store display windows are chock full of interesting subjects displayed with a certain aesthetic flair. Big name stores like Bloomingdale’s and Barney’s in NYC employ true artists whose only task is creating traffic stopping displays for their ground floor windows.
Sometimes you may find something of visual interest simply by walking across a parking lot to go shopping. The image above titled “Racing Against Giants” struck me and tickled my funny bone when I saw it in a parking lot because I couldn’t figure out why the repainted handicapped symbol was so much smaller that the original one still there. It simply intrigued me and became a poignant image on a number of levels. I like images that can be multifaceted in their interpretations.
One thing I’ve noticed walking about an urban environment and been mindful of is the level of decay in various things, objects and infrastructure, alongside the shiny new things that appear. It makes for intriguing juxtapositions at times. I noticed this numeral as part of an address on a building in the wee hours of the morning and captured the image called “Five Decay.”
A couple of weeks later I passed the same spot and someone had attempted to paint over the area of the decayed number with white paint, but the numeral was not replaced. I felt a new iteration on the theme was required. Titled “Five Decay ~ Repainted”, both images (including another variation on the first version) hang in my gallery of 100 mobile images :: FIVE ::
One of the things about engaging in this practice of exploring a large area of your urban environment by foot is you begin to notice recurring themes that can lead to creating numerous images that have a meaning for you as you get more and more into the deeper messages of your images. What started as a seeming fluke of an image that caught your attention for some unknown hidden reason can lead to a series of like images based on a theme. My series “Arrow Decay” (of which the above image is number IV) started just that way, and before I knew it, I was encountering “decayed” arrow icons everywhere even miles apart (yes, I walk ALOT)!
Another rather amusing (to me) recurring subject I have encountered over the past year of my current urban environment is the “Lone Glove” phenomenon. I have no idea why I have come across so many lone, abandoned gloves in this area, which I have dubbed, “The Lone Glove Capitol of the World”, but I have. It’s become something of a mystery for me: why only the one glove? Why was it discarded and where was its mate?
As I encountered each glove, not seeking them out they simply “found” me, I chose in each case not to move the glove or alter the scene I found each in, but rather to photograph each in situ. Since each was found at all hours of the day and night, I chose the composition so as not to cast a shadow from either the sunlight or streetlight. That’s why, compositionally each is in a unique position. I always felt surprised, delighted, and bemused at my “luck” for encountering this unique subject.
I honestly don’t think I could’ve found all these gloves within the past year if I had intentionally been looking for them. The Universe doesn’t work that way. Our intentions are often thwarted, and so we must surrender to serendipity without any intention. It’s weird and mysterious how the Universe works!
“Bicycle Lines”
All of the usual photographic considerations apply when you are on an urban walkabout: Composition, perspective, and lighting. Chief among these is always lighting. Since you don’t have the advantage of bringing lighting gear with you, you have to be very, very mindful of the ambient lighting conditions. The two factors of light photographically speaking are quality and quantity. The quality of light, is it a hard source or is there a softening factor to it, and how strong is the light? Since you don’t have control over any of that, you have to take it as it comes. For sunlight hours, the direction of the sun, time of day, harsh sun or overcast quality can affect your subject.
The light itself can be your subject if you pay mindful attention to what it is giving you at any given time of day.
In the Heat of the Night. Now nighttime hours on an urban walkabout present their own unique challenges, not the least of which is being hyper aware of your environment and safety. That is in part why my recommendation of using a mobile device as your camera of choice over a dSLR is important. Being inconspicuous is a highly desirable quality. That said, if you’re an insomniac like me and love to explore the nocturnal realms of your environment, you can be richly rewarded with images that others will simply sleep through. The above image I titled “Four A.M. Chairs” was captured at, well four a.m. as I was walking up a street and the available nearby floodlight cast these shadows of some chairs that had been put out for trash. Right time, right place (they likely would be gone in a few hours) and right lighting conspired to create an intriguing image. With relatively hard light sources (sunlight or artificial lights) shadows can be as interesting as lit subjects, if not more so.
“Look Eye, Always Look Eye!” That advice from Mr. Miyagi is great for karate, but when you are “in the zone” of looking for things that intrigue your eyes, you need to keep your gaze in constant motion. Another important factor or “skill” to cultivate in embarking on an urban walkabout is to simply “look down.” Too often we walk around looking at eye-level or up, especially in urban environments with tall buildings and such. It’s natural and we want to see where we are going. But so much can be missed by not looking down in front of us too. Street drawings on a sidewalk like the one I encountered outside a music school one night in the image above. I have found so many interesting subjects (the gloves and arrow series come to mind) by looking at the ground around me. Easy things to miss or ignore when our eyes are focused elsewhere. The key to having an enjoyable and ultimately successful urban walkabout is to look all around as you go. Don’t get locked into one point of view.
Rest Up But Keep Looking. An aspect to the organized “Photowalk” as it’s a group event that the Urban Walkabout, which I see as usually a solitary experience, is lacking is the restaurant rendezvous at the end of the walk. A gathering of participants at a designated time and place to share food & drink, friendship and images captured on the day.
“Bernini’s Bee”
“Café Solar II”
“Salt & Pepper Café”
But if you are on a solo urban walkabout you needn’t feel like you’re missing out. You can (and probably should) take a break, stop into a refreshing establishment along the way such as Bernini’s in Ybor City, FL where “Bernini’s Bee” adorns the front door, or maybe an outdoor café with cool furniture, or your favorite dining spot with funky colorful decor and tables and chairs to match along your way. If you find yourself in a new, unfamiliar area to explore, try a new establishment and maybe discover a new favorite! Take some time to play with post-processing some of what you’ve found and share it instantly on line if you like. That’s one of the best things about creating with mobile tools and apps, the immediate gratification of the process. And while you’re taking a bit of a break, you may find some really intriguing subjects to photograph in your immediate environment… even a decorative restroom 🚻 sign.
Parting Advice: If I leave you with anything from describing this amazing creative experience of an Urban Walkabout, it’s this:
If you see something, not matter how small and maybe insignificant in the moment, capture it anyway. If it caught your eye and attention, even briefly, get it recorded on pixels. Because it is guaranteed that if you pass it by it will not be the same if you decided to photograph it later. The light will never be the same, the subject may disappear altogether, or it may not interest you in the same way later and you would have missed the opportunity to see how creatively you could have transformed it into a work of art.
Once you begin to experience an Urban Walkabout for yourself, you will become more aware, more observant, more intrigued by both small and larger things that most people simply ignore. You’ll begin to see beauty and possibility in things most people would step over. You’ll be able to see something interesting in a crumbling, decaying road that reveals the beauty of the underlying brick road that was there all along. In short, you will SEE where others cannot, and like great photographer Dorothea Lange’s young granddaughter, from that moment on you will “apprehend the world differently.”
* In the exquisite documentary written and filmed by her granddaughter “American Masters: Dorothea Lange - Grab A Hunk Of Lightning”, a young Dorothea observing the laundry fluttering in the breeze comments on it being “beautiful”. Her mother replies to her, “To you everything is beautiful!”