Life in the Slow Lane

I grew up in a small town and often have a different perspective than those who grew up in the "big city" (we talk that way sometimes in small towns, you know). Maybe that's why I carry a camera with me wherever I go. There's always a bit of "they won't believe this back home" going through  my mind whenever I see rhododendrons in full bloom or Mt. Hood peeking out behind a cloud. But at least several times a week I'm surprised by something that is not at all out of the ordinary, but yet worth taking the time to get a picture of. It can be something as simple as what appears to be three best friends taking a walk, or one of the chubbiest squirrels I have ever seen having a snack on a picnic table (talk about storing up for the winter!).

 

Since I tend to walk the same three or four routes on my lunch hour, I decided to start looking at things from different angles to see if I was missing something. I mean, what can be exciting about a sidewalk through the trees? Quite a lot really if you stand on one foot and hold your tongue just right. I'm kidding about the last part, but one day I did look at the path at a different angle and there it was, a very ordinary sidewalk was all of a sudden framed by brown trunks with blooming trees overhanging it in the distance. 

One of my favorite shots involved quite a bit of traffic dodging. This stretch of road is surprisingly busy even in the early afternoon. Of course, it was never busy when I was about 20 feet from where I needed to be and as soon as I got ready, here came all the cars. But over a course of three or four days I managed to get some decent pictures without hindering traffic too much. 

Probably the most unique in its unnoticeability is that crack in the sidewalk that someone should do something about. It caught my eye one day because it had turned from an ordinary raised bit of cement into a measuring rod for the amount of blossoms that had dropped from overhead (and no I don't usually take pictures of cracked sidewalks, it must have been that sermon using modern art as an analogy . . .). 

Now whenever I pass by something as ordinary as dandelions invading the well manicured lawns around town -- the nerve -- I wonder if that could be made to look interesting. I know, it's a stretch, but maybe there's an angle I haven't tried yet.