Day 127: Bird Station on the River

2026-06-13

Back at the river boat showcase...

Hello!

I've realized that a lot of my shots are not quite minimalist, but definitely not busy and overloaded. I position myself at a reasonable distance away from the hotspots and the chaos, and the resulting images sometimes fit in a mix between lonely and calming.

A side effect of that is that my subjects, if they're in isolation, are centered right down the middle. I rarely stick to the rule of thirds, and I don't frame my images with that offset in mind. This isn't an intentional behavior — I was taught to stick to the rule of thirds as a good habit — and I'll aim to align things to the right third or left third line in the near future. It's good to get out of those habits and comfort zones when you find them, especially if they might be holding you back.

An image I would like to produce someday is a compilation of all 50 US state license plates. I don't need to collect them physically, but over time, photograph them on cars and cut them together for a single photo. In a similar vein, I would find every number from 1 to 100 appearing on street signs and addresses, and make a compilation of those.

They wouldn't fit the niche I've carved for this website, but it would be an interesting side project, even if I never share it on the Internet. There's a lot of my soul that I haven't sacrificed to the engine, and I'd like to keep it that way :-).

Finally, Japanese photographer Mao Ishikawa's images of people each have a story attached, and it's all about the human subjects, not the photographer herself.

Cheers,
David