The Bicyclist

Do you find yourself waiting for some inspiration to photograph, some idea or story? Does that wait stop you from creating images?

Ralph Gibson talked a lot about “the point of departure”.…  Actually he got that critique while assisting  Dorothea Lange , whose famous work during the depression gave birth to her iconic image Migrant Mother.

Used in a broad sense it comes to mean a goal or place or subject you start out to get and somewhere along the way, something else presents itself all together differently, and had you not started on the original course, you would have missed it. The point of departure becomes a necessary catalyst for the work you are now onto, or the work you created.

I wasn’t sure of what I was going to shoot this day. I knew that I wanted to scout for a different view of the Arch de Triump  and so I spent the day in search of. While next to impossible to do something new with this famous monument ( coming later in another blog) , I felt defeated. So what does does a Miami Photographer do in a situation like this…well I am in Paris... and cafes are plentiful…so

Over a glass of a really good white, chilled wine, Gewurztraminer , a semi-sweet taste of vanilla, Lychees and honey, so smooth so supple, like a beautiful wom… OK  OK , I digress… but do try it. Sitting and sipping, I watched the business around me. The street left little space to see through all the cars passing by when from up the block this old man with shocking white beard was weaving and coming by on his bike with no fear nor hesitation of his moves through all the traffic. Luckily, my wine in one hand and camera in the other, I got off one shot totally unplanned nor foreseen. Had I not been there I would have had it and gone home empty handed.

I’ve always like Gibson, been to his shows and some lectures. So Ralph, forgive me for taking this and applying it in my life but for me, on that day, the point of departure worked. What was yours?

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