The light and the darkness: A photographic journey

At night, when the sun sets and the darkness creeps from all corners until it fully encompasses the landscape, the sidewalks come to life as past meets present and history lies waiting around every corner. The allure of darkness has always intrigued me and many a night I would find myself walking through dark desolate side streets or main thoroughfares teaming with yellow cabs moving night explorers from place to place. Back then NYC was my home and the mood of the streets would permeate your soul like the tone of a jazz song. Today I call Los Angeles my home and although the mood is quite different there is something distinctly LA that resonates through the streets. A cross between the tinseltown of old with its storied past and a metropolitan city on the verge of becoming the epicenter of a cultural and architectural revival.  Needless to say it was a perfect time to buy a new camera and step up my photography game. Until now the majority of my creative photos have been taken with my iPhone and the portraits of my fiancé with my entry level DSLR. Even though I was severely limited in what I could do, I did make it work for as long as possible but it wasn't long before I reached my creative ceiling. I had all but abandoned Instagram, posting only a handful of pictures over several months. 

I started to recall the reasons why I first fell in love with photography and why it was equally important to be able to visually express myself as I do in my writing. But for every benefit, lied the fear of not being good enough. The what if syndrome that has plegued my life was getting in the way of my growth as a photographer and story teller alike. Then a random conversation about a completely different subject reminded me of lobsters. In a short video titled, Responding to stress, Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski explains how stress is a time for personal growth. Video found here.  It was then I knew I had to make the leap of faith, for my creative spirit that was in danger of dying under the threat of a mundane existence. 

I had already done the research and knew exactly what I wanted and it wasn't until my fifth trip to the camera store before I pulled the trigger. These pictures were all taken within the first week of purchasing my camera. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Olympus Pen-F fuels my creativity and sharing that with you.