Here’s another photo that has a lot of significance to me. I took this photo, again in Columbia Heights. This was taken in an alley that leads to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). It pretty much lies right under the Brooklyn Bridge. I have a lot of memories of this area, because I pretty much grew up here. It is a great area.
As a kid I used to think of concepts (yes, I actually did) of the types of photos I wanted to see done and see myself in. I used to look out of the window all day at the lower manhattan skyline and think about how I could capture that and bring out what I was feeling, in a photo.
I’ve always had a thing for blurry backgrounds, and I’m not sure why. It might have something to do with the fact that I love when things are not known, like when I see a photo of someone or something and there is a blurry background, I start to question and wonder: Where was this taken? What time of day was it? What’s back there?
In this photo I was pretty much trying to evoke that same feeling. People who see this photo can start to wonder where it was taken, what was in the background and maybe even who I am and where I come from. Blurry backgrounds hold so much significance in photography because it evokes feelings deeper than…just a blurry background. It creates a story, makes you think of someone or something. It also makes you feel as if you need to find out where this photo was taken, which is why I hold photos like this in high regard.
