Saturday marked the first day of spring... and though I am excited for the return of warm weather, later night falls, and navigable sidewalks, I'm most excited that my camera will be coming out of hibernation. If you haven't totally tuned out from visiting The Viewfinder, you've undoubtedly noticed that there has been about a two-month lapse during which no new posts have been shared.
Though I regret this, I must admit that the lack of activity was due to a lack of creative inspiration and most importantly, a two-month catalog of new images that I just did not really believe in. Thus, I've decided to put behind me my photography drought, and share only a few images from the last few months as a way of saying goodbye to winter.
Beacon Hill after Boston's first full night of snow.
One of my favorite parts of this winter was visiting my childhood hometown of Lititz, Pennsylvania in January. It's funny how the combination of distance and time can make one nostalgic, but for me a visit to Lititz is like chicken soup. The above photo is the famed
Wilbur Chocolate factory, out of which wafts a daily aroma of melted chocolate. In these moments Lititz becomes a Rockwellian setting in which you walk the streets fully expecting to run into
George Bailey himself.
Pittsburgh served as another brief destination this winter. After witnessing the inauguration, we worked our way across Pennsylvania for a quick visit with my parents, and later to Pittsburgh to visit our good friend Matt Desjardins (blogging shout out). Matt recently left Boston for a masters program in international espionage at the University of Pittsburgh... no joke! If the photograph above is any indication, we hung out in Pittsburgh on probably the coldest weekend of the year. The following weekend, inspired by our visit, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl.
Dear The Viewfinder Blog, please stop blogging about Barack Obama. Yours truly, The Internet.
Okay, I promise to expand the scope of topics on my blog in the coming months, but I would be remiss if I neglected to follow up on my coverage of the inauguration. Beyond the already told stories of massive crowds, history-making speeches, Aretha Franklin's hat, and a botch-job by Justice Roberts, the real story of the inauguration for me was the monumental, yet nearly noiseless catharsis felt while huddling shoulder to shoulder with millions of my fellow citizens as we bared witness to history. Now I am well aware that due to my age and my ancestral background, I am someone who cannot fully and personally appreciate the
total importance of Barack Obama's election. Thus, the catharsis I speak about is one born from a lifetime of presidents who, to me, have placed reelection before the country, and in the process have bargained our security and prosperity for poll numbers and personal gain. More simply, I've only seen politicians, not statesmen become president.
Obama is only 63 days into his presidency, and though the impact of his policy shifts are still months and years away, the tenacity and urgency with which his administration has addressed our pressing issues confirm to me that Obama is more statesman than politican. And the photo above, my literal place in the history of Obama's election... reminds me that I played a part in arguably the most important political seachange in the history of our country. It does feel like we are coming out of the winter.
In May I will be traveling with 15 other US-based photographers to Guadalajara, where we will team up with 15 Mexico-based photographers. Truth With A Camera partners with local NGOs to create media that is used to market the organizations' missions. For this trip, we will be partnered with NGOs in Guadalajara that advocate for children who make their living on the streets. My daily schedule will include a full day of photography and interaction with these kids, followed by a full evening of photo editing, under the guidance of some of today's top photojournalists. It should prove to be an amazing experience both personally and professionally.
Joey recently returned for South Africa, where he was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. While there, Joey snapped this captivating photograph. Joey's photos cuts through the the b.s. that tends to divide people, and focus on the aspects of the human condition that unites people around the world. It'll be great to experience Guadalajara with him. Please return in June to see the work that comes out of our week in Mexico.
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