black&white – Page 4 – Carlo Centeno

White Shed

On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again

Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson

For me, one of the better ways to decrease the clutter in my head is to take a drive with camera in tow. Road photography. It should be a category of its own. Sometimes I have a location in mind, mostly I don’t. Where the road leads and the sun moves are my travel indicators. I chase the light, I welcome serendipity and I relish the freedom that time brings. Driving the back roads—especially those off the major interstates—offer catharsis. It works.

Evergreen

Road photography. It’s a cousin to street photography, but instead of strolling along sidewalks, I’m in a car driving to nowhere in particular, just to immerse myself in a tempo and ambiance that has little to do with work. At times I also take along my journal and if nothing arouses my visual creativity, I take the pen to the paper…or vice-versa.

Autumnal Comfort & Solitude

All of what’s happening this time of year places me in and around appropriate elements: temperature, quality of light, temperament, creativity, among others. I’ll admit, this is my favorite time of year, the cooler weather being a preference of mine. My take is that all of us—like the plants and trees and the critters—undergo if not experience changes. Subtle, dramatic, melancholic, joyous: it’s all there if we allow ourselves to be more open, and less encapsuled by the rote of day-to-day.

“This is London Calling”*

*This was the BBC radio introduction that was used during the Second World War. Personally, I tie this to a sentiment that I need to go back…

Solitary Crucible

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Wendy Mass, writer & author

Wanderings 2

According to noted author, Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc, “we wander for distraction and travel for fulfillment.” I suppose combining both then becomes photography. There are distractions that are worth photographing and there’s a sense of fulfillment when I travel. It could be far flung or just around the corner. In either case, both distractions and fulfillment find a place in what you see, hear, feel and smell during your promenades.

Differentiation and Attraction

“It’s Hip to be Square”

With respect to Huey Lewis and the News for their song of the same title—and to rebels, romantics and nonconformists of my generation—photographers have long known of the practical beauty of a square image. It’s symmetrical and requires no effort to turn a camera to a vertical position, then back again to horizontal.

The square is neither in landscape nor portrait mode. It just is.

Spring part 2

Spring

Every March, we try to make our way up to Smith College to see their flower show. This is one of our favorite peripatetic sorties. Not surprisingly, most visitors appear happier or at least cheerful in demeanor. It’s gotten to the point where smartphone cameras rule the aisles; rarely seen is a “regular camera” as we know it.