Street Pics.

"Somewhere in my closet 

There's a cardboard box just sittin' on a shelf

It's full of faded memories

And it's been there ever since the night you left." 

At last count there are a lot of people taking pictures. Probably more than in history thanks to the iEverything, point and shoot cameras, and regular cameras that use film. Just kidding—who uses film anymore? Actually people do, but they are few and far between.

Photos are being taken, sent thousands of miles away instantly and sometimes deleted just as quickly as they took to receive. (Hello Snap Chat!) A few years ago my kids were using my phone—check that they still do—and had downloaded this app called "Snap Chat." I had no idea what it did, what it was known to do, and what could be done with it. One day at lunch I learned what it's primary usage was and that puppy was gone before dessert.

Before the explosion of digital photography, I was taking photos but not as many as I do today. I used film and eventually migrated to all digital. It's cheaper, faster, and with the number of photos I was taking, instant gratification. In some ways I miss taking the film in for processing wondering if I had taken a special shot. More than 9 out of 10 times, I didn't and those pictures are buried deep in the attic.

Sometimes however the buried pictures come back to be appreciated; this is what happened when a photographers photos were found in 2007. Her name was Vivian Mauer and whereas she is deceased, her photos live on and will continue to live on in exhibitions, books and eventual sales of her images. She was a street photographer and captured life when no one was looking—at least what they thought.

Yesterday I saw a movie based upon this discovery—it's a cross between the show "Storage Wars" and the movie "Titanic." A major discovery not even realized to be hiding in a murky storage locker that went to auction. What a find.

If you know her story, the film takes you as deep into her life as she will let you go; if not, you will be fascinated. At least I was. What she captured on film is priceless—there has been nothing like it found in the past, and even though billions of photos are now being taken, people will likely be more skeptical when they see someone pointing a camera. It's not as easy as it looks to take iconic photos—I doubt I will ever be so lucky.

The photo above was taken this past spring at an ice dance practice. I was taking a course at our local college, College of DuPage, and one of our projects was to all go and shoot ice dancing—I had no idea what I was about to encounter with every one of my classmates shooting the same topic from the same location at the rink. One thing I learned was it's ok to lay down on the job; my head was sticking out from the door from an opening in the boards—- fortunately it stayed in tact to capture a memory.

Thanks for stopping by.