I’d planned to get up at 8:45am or so in order to get downtown in time, but ended up barely rolling out of bed around 9:20am. I’m not a morning person by nature so these kinds of rare Saturday’s are ones where I have to push myself one step after another towards the shower, towards getting dressed, towards the door, knowing at some point I’ll find myself awake and excited to get a move on. That took approximately an hour; my brain didn’t start to really kick in until half way through the Max ride downtown where, cameras fully primed, I slowly got myself warmed up.
That’s the funny thing about photography, for me at least. Beautiful pictures are everywhere for the taking, but until I can get my eyes appropriately greased, I’m just not finding those shots. But I shot and I shot anyway and slowly warmed up as I moved and got stuck in the crowds and escaped from the crowds and got a Spanish coffee into me early on then later some baked oysters from the oyster bar near the waterfront (a now favourite restaurant of mine). By then the shots were coming smoothly, one after another, and though everyone was wearing colourful dress and even more colourful signs I kept switching back to black and white, my friendly place, my home behind the camera.
As a photographer I simply want to capture the moment despite my views, so I’ll leave those aside. This was a day I simply took pictures of patriots of every persuasion and opinion. The crowds were peaceful. Everyone was kind and friendly to the local police. Kids were smiling. People were laughing. Singing and dancing a plenty! Only a few didn’t want their photos taken (we’ve become so afraid of this administration and its used of face recognition technology it doesn’t exactly surprise me) but we’re all Americans and for better or worse we’re all in this together. We have a voice that’s been granted to us over the entire history of this country and I’m glad people are exercising that right. As for me, I’m happy to help people express their views and hopefully, maybe, I’ve captured each and every one in a moment of beauty.
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