Follow Your Heart

April 14, 2016

This is Ross.

Ross. Downtown Eugene, Oregon. Fuji X70.

He's a self-proclaimed crappy guitarist, an HVAC worker, and a soul-searcher. His girlfriend recently broke up with him and he wasn't getting rich, so he hit the road and is trying to find himself. He & his buddy & buddy's dog were gonna hitch-hike out today, but it's pouring and no one is gonna wanna pick up two wet dudes and wet dog. Plus, his buddy's fancy banjo was just stolen. We talked for almost a half hour about society, hardship, and good souls. He's a good guy and not looking for handouts or to take anything without a fair trade, human to human. He's going after something in himself and the world. He's on his way to Ohio to see family and then Atlanta to see his mom, with plans to come back, after seeing the world and finding deeper meaning of life.

At the end, he asked me why I stopped. I said he had a different aura about him. He was approachable and a genuine soul. What I forgot to say is that just like Shawn Biessel & I were talking about recently, I was walking around the street guided by my heart, not my mind or my eyes. When I came around the corner, I immediately knew I had to talk to him. First thing I said was to ask if he wanted a donut, which he replied, yes please. He likes custard filled lemon donuts. I got us each one for while we talked.
Thanks for the photo and conversation, Ross. Safe travels, my friend.

Whatever we all do with our lives, may we follow our hearts. He is and I'm glad I did, too.

View more Street Photos

Get your own Fuji X70 through this link, at no extra cost, & help support Stay Sane, Sleep Outside.

Fujifilm X70 Digital Camera (Black) Buy on Amazon

Thinking Like a Mountain on the Street

April 9, 2016

As part of my ongoing Project 365+1, I thought I'd share a story from yesterday, the 99th day.

InFormation. Downtown Eugene, Oregon. (c) 2016 Josh Spice

Standing just down the sidewalk to the right of the frame, I had been replying to a friend's deep comments on Facebook for a handful of minutes, while watching the world go by. People were walking all around, and some quite interesting ones at that, but I wasn't real drawn to trying to capture any of them. And I was in no rush. Being almost 6 pm, the light was low angle and there were large areas in shadow. Something wasn't right and I just felt out of place. I hadn't been downtown shooting street in quite a while; maybe that's why.

I decided I'd cross the street and go to the other end of the block and shoot at the bus depot, which was more open to the sky and better lit. When I crossed, right through the image frame above, something told me to stop, so I did, still in the street. I saw this guy coming down the block and somehow immediately knew I had to have it.

The framing and his placement was already in my head. I turned on the X70 and held it up, just to verify my placement, and it was perfect - distant to capture the whole spread, but close enough to get the detail. As he walked, to my surprise, he kept his head glued to his cell phone. It was actually all coming together and I felt a rush of excitement through me - kind of like a hunter gets buck fever when they see a big rack on a deer.

I snapped when he was centered and a mirror image of the silhouette behind him. When I chimped, only then did I notice the contrasting angled light to center of frame and his white shirt on the black silhouette. It was perfect in my eye and I knew right then I had gotten my shot. The funny thing to me is, as you recall, I had been doing exactly what he is pictured doing - staring at my phone, just ahead of him, out of the frame, leaning up against the wall. I went from making a scene to making the scene. I stepped 'out of the picture' to capture, in essence, what I had been doing, just with better framing and environment.

Walking around after taking this, I was very sedated in shooting. I only saw two shots after this, one I took (my wife & I - almost doesn't count in a street shooting sense) and one I didn't - across the street and headed the other way when we were heading home. I chalked it up as seeing was just as important as capturing.

I don't often stop shooting after I get what I feel is a solid keeper when everything comes together, but for some reason today, I had that feeling strongly. With a background and schooling in ecology, conservation, and hunting, I was again the hunter, but this time it was not the excitement of the big rack, but about Thinking Like A Mountain. When the street provides to me, I feel the need to not push it and take too much away from it on any one day. When it gives me a good scene, I make it, thank it, and move on, leaving it's grit and flare, while only taking but a fleeting moment.

How do you feel when you shoot street?

View The Street Gallery

Get your own Fuji X70 through this link, at no extra cost, & help support Stay Sane, Sleep Outside.

Fujifilm X70 Digital Camera (Black) Buy on Amazon

'Internet Friends Can Be Real Life Friends'

January 10, 2016

I just moved to Eugene with Jen. Soon after, Daniel contacted me and said we should ride bikes.
That sounded cool. Today, he showed me some awesome local single track.

There are a lot of nice trails in the hills above Eugene.
I'm thankful there are awesome people like Daniel that want to share them with newbies.
Definitely more of these rides to come. Thanks Daniel!

Really, this was a blind-coffee-outside-on-bikes date.

'Internet Friends Can Be Real Life Friends'
-Daniel

Day 1, 2016

January 1, 2016

One photo a day, posted on my Project 365 +1 page.
Shot all on Fuji cameras.

This is day one.
Day one of camera always with me. Day one of I'm going to be a better photographer. Day one of I'm going to actually DO SOMETHING with the images I create.

Check out what I did last year, as a primer.
I still haven't done anything beyond share single images of what I shot in 2015, hence this change.

Here are some from Day One, out for a walk with my wife and dog.