Yesterday morning I strolled to work at a relaxed pace, stopping regularly to take out the Focal Micro 110. Since the viewfinder's usefulness is debatable, I decided to try something new and take photos from hip and shin level. Digital makes me want to see the results of this experimentation tonight but alas, I'll need to wait until I finish the roll. What a great motivator!

By the way, I love that I can use my morning commute to take photos. I've made the bike ride in 7 minutes and can get there on the bus in 15, but opting for the 25-minute walk to work affords me so many more ( “orders of magnitude,” as my more mathematically inclined husband would say) opportunities to take in tiny moments, scenes, and often photos.

Looking back at the pictures I posted last Thursday, that's just what I'm doing: every time I snap a photo with the 110, I imagine I am bottling the moment and stashing it away in this plastic box.  Strange, I know, but this camera has a way of capturing my imagination.

Speaking of stolen moments, I had an interesting conversation with Baltimore fiber artist Melissa Webb yesterday while collecting material for a guest post on We Make It Art. She uses photography to document her work and commented, “I love the fact that you can say, 'this is what I want the world to see.'” However, she also pointed out that photos are but a “window in on a moment,” a moment the viewer has already missed.

So what am I doing here, archiving my footsteps through Baltimore? Am I weaving a commentary from dead rats and broken bottles, or just enamored with the bizarre order of the world?

Actually, in that way I think the 110 pictures are quite similar to the photos I took in my house this summer: documents charting my existence in a space (this time indoors), capturing moments as I wanted the world to see them, wandering occasionally into commentary.  The photo at right makes me think of the rat picture I posted last week, in a way.  Neither are visually "nice," but each place on display a moment in my life I wanted to "grab" and preserve.  As both these sets of photos develop, it'll be interesting to see how and if they connect.

How do you prefer to view/make images? What is their meaning/purpose for you?