all photos (embiggenable) ancient Pueblo cliff cave dwelling
“Of all the world’s photographers, the lowliest and least honored is the simple householder…. His knowledge of photography is about that of your average chipmunk. …. Emulsion speeds, f-stops, meter readings, shutter speeds have absolutely no meaning to him, except as a language he hears spoken when, by mistake, he wanders into a real camera store to buy film instead of his usual drugstore …. He lugs his primitive equipment with him on vacation trips …. His product is almost always people- or possession-oriented. It rarely occurs to such a photographer to take a picture of something, say a Venetian fountain, without a loved one standing directly in front of it and smiling into the lens.” ~ Jean Shepherd
PURSUANT TO MY LAST ENTRY (re: nix on touristy pictures) I CAN ATTEST THAT when making photographs while traveling that include the presence of the wife, I have successfully avoided making pictures that the lowliest and least honored simple householder might make while making a picture of his/her loved one standing in front of something and smiling into the lens.
My intent when making such photographs of the wife during our travels is to simply capture a slice of life––her doing her thing while I am doing mine. The photographs are not about her, per se, but rather about her being there, engaged in the moment.
On the flip side, when the wife takes a picture of me, it is usually at my request. That request is most always accompanied by “instructions” from me that she just picture me doing what I am doing and to include something that gives context to where we are. That written, she usually gets it “right”.
That success just might be due to the fact that, by living with me, she does know more about photography than the average chipmunk.