Camera Data

Camera Model: Canon 10D

Lens: Canon EF 24-70 mm f/2.8L USM

Shutter Speed: 1/20 sec

Aperture: f/4.6

ISO Speed Rating: 100

Wallflower - Telegraph Cove.  July, 2006

My favorite photographs are those of subjects often hiding within something ordinary, or discarded, perhaps abstract, or something so worn it's taken for granted and dismissed. In so many ways, I relate to these images because they remind me of, well, me as a kid. It's sort of a wall-flower line of logic, finding beauty in something overlooked. The thought is reminiscent of those noon-hour eighth grade sock-hops where it's girl's choice, and you are standing there, pressed ever so firmly against the wall, doing your best to look invisible, but secretly hoping someone will notice your act, take a chance and ask for a dance. It's a universal feeling. Consider, on the other side of the age spectrum, those senior citizens sitting outside their convalescent home, near the door, abandoned by their family, waiting for visitors to acknowledge their presence and stop for a chat, yet everyone walks by. Being overlooked is a bummer, but getting noticed is ever so sweet. In this case I hope, like me, being the one doing the noticing, you are able to see a subject so tired it's one step away from scrap metal. Yet it still holds a special beauty.

Looking back though, when I took this photo at Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island, it occurred to me that I was viewing an abstract chart of our destination, the Broughton Islands. I could see isolated islands, abandoned and surrounded by the deep fjords of rust cut into the metal, etched slowly over years of harsh exposure, defining sounds, passages, channels, and anchorages. I could see tidal currents. I could see hazardous rocks. And I could see surrounding peaks and forests. I know what you're thinking. I've gone over the edge yet again. But in my defense I will tell you that I'm amazed how a vacation can free up one's mind to see the world in a different way. You just have to learn to look.

DouglasWalch@comcast.net