What is it about small towns and cities that feel so much different from everywhere else in the world? is it the lack of noise? are people are just friendlier? or something else?
I’m currently living in Corner Brook Newfoundland, which is pretty much the smallest size a city can be. I love walking around the area that I’m living in, there’s a great view of the mountains in every direction, no big buildings to block your view of nature. It’s serene, in a way that I rarely felt when I was living in Halifax.
I feel that no matter where you live in the world, you get to decide what you make of the place you’re in. You get to choose what you make with the things that are around you. After awhile you get used to anywhere that you live in, the “hedonic treadmill” always takes over and you get complacent with your surroundings. I’ve found that the only cure for complacency is to try to find something new about the place that you’re in, take a different route for your morning walk, leave your house at a different time, and take notice of all the subtle differences in things that change day by day. The snow melted a little bit here, or whether the sun hits this building at an interesting angle. Awareness is the ultimate form of freedom.
When I was in San Francisco I took a workshop by VIneet Vohra, a great street photographer and teacher. He taught us to always look at the world with “fresh eyes” and to always look at your surroundings as if you were seeing them for the first time. This isn’t always easy to do, but it is an important part of staying motivated in photography, and it is essential to see things in new ways in order to photograph them in a way that isn’t obvious, or too easy.
-Jeremy