Amateur Shutterbug

Lacking any formal training in photography, I've always been of the school of thought that if I document an event with a hundred photos, and two of them are good, I can up my percentage going forward by looking over the photographs and seeing what worked and what didn't. Rather than invest the time or money (both of which are somewhat scarce) in a course, I've just taken thousands of photos, and compared them to what I saw, and to the look I was trying to achieve.

While I doubt any amount of autodidactic effort will put me on par with any of my regularly frequented photobloggers -- all of whom clearly know what they're doing -- I figure that even mere improvement is cause for celebration. Taking a less crappy photograph is still better than taking an unabashedly crappy snapshot.

Until recently, the obvious occasions for photography have been at Big Events: weddings, holidays, and other family gatherings. I also have made a point of documenting my vacations with scores of photographs, mostly of vistas, as my friends are generally far more interested in seeing pictures of places they might someday visit than of people they will never meet.

What I haven't done is make a point of photographing my hometown. It seems a shame. I'm always peoplewatching -- on the sidewalk, out the window of my apartment, on the subway, and yet I'm shy about actually documenting the faces and phenomena I see in this town. Truth be told, something amazing is always happening in New York City.

I always assume I'll stay here forever. I've already lived here for most of my life. I'm out of school, my family is settled in and around the five boroughs, and -- as pricey as I find it to be -- I love it here. But I don't know for sure that one day I won't look around, consider the fact that my monthly rent for a 675-sq. ft. apartment is more than double one friend's mortgage (mortgage!) for a townhouse more than twice that size in Atlanta, or that it's nearly ten times another friend's mortgage on a home he's renovating in Charleston, SC. The cost of a down payment on any home I might hope to buy is more than double the cost of an entire single-family home in countless cities in America.

So -- on the off chance that one day I might say "fuck it all" and forsake my hometown for the heartland -- I ought to make a point of playing photojournalist. I should document all that is precious and all that is extraordinary about the city in which I live.

Tomorrow is Halloween. I think it's about time I stop bragging about how phenomenal the City's Halloween Parade is and start capturing it firsthand. Same with the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. And so on and so forth. If anything, maybe making a point of bringing my camera with me will force me to get off my ass and to take more advantage of the City's offerings. That wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

If I post Halloween pics on this site sometime soon, you'll know I made good on my plan.