My awareness of symmetry has been with me since I was a kid. I would walk sidewalks trying to hit the space between the cracks evenly with each step and count how many steps it took to get to the next block. My favorite spot to shoot a basketball was from the top of the key, because it seemed like the perfect combination of shapes converging on one another. I poured my milk to the same line in my glass, being sure it matched up perfectly. Either this was all a sign of undiagnosed OCD or I just needed ways to pass the time in the form of personal games.
When I started as a photographer, my quest for symmetrical perfection continued until I moved closer toward my career in photojournalism that included less symmetry and abstraction. Even though I moved away from it, I still think contemporary, abstract and minimalist photography has had a big impact on my personal style.
Now that the semester has come to a close I have some more free time on my hands and I thought I’d head out to get back to my roots as a photographer. There is something therapeutic in the process of making these images. Each is a deliberate exercise in seeing from a very specific perspective.
In the same way I got personal gratification from lining up my footsteps to be perfectly in-between sidewalk cracks, I love seeing shapes and lines and colors come together to make up a single frame.
I used to do the same thing with the sidewalk cracks….still do sometimes. Beautiful photography.
Good to know I wasn’t the only one! Thanks for your kind words