Preserved Glimpses

Riding around, taking photos from a moving vehicle is akin to traveling at the speed of sound. It’s only when you pause for a moment that the sound catches up to you. The same is true of photos. In a car, you whiz past buildings, people, animals, and everything else that makes up life as we know it, but you are moving so fast you miss the nuances, the details. A camera lens doesn’t have that problem. Despite the speed, it is able to focus in on the vignettes that make up everyday life.

Driving through the streets of Charleston is overwhelming to the senses because there is so much to see. The colors, the culture, the perfect blend of old and new. Seeing it all from a car is frustrating as you find yourself only seeing a glimpse of this or a glimpse of that. The streets are narrow and the buildings are packed together like only a three hundred year old port city can arrange them. But my camera, my camera catches it all – every detail…like the earthquake bolts in the side of some buildings…

…or the sights and sounds of the city market….

…churches with Charleston’s distinctive wrought iron fences…houses with private side porches turned just so as to catch the breeze coming in off the harbor on a hot day…

Yes, parking the car and taking a stroll will allow for better pictures, but there is something about the fleeting feeling of trying to capture an image while moving. The end result isn’t magazine picture perfect, but it feels real…like a truthful representation of the experience…