Beauty in all places

I received an email from my brother in law – he saw the photo of the underside of the Michigan Avenue bridge published yesterday on tWp and told me a few interesting tid-bits. His great-great grandfather, Michael Faherty, was the man responsible for overseeing its construction. Here’s a link to the plaque commemorating the bridge which contains the names of the folks who were responsible, and here’s a cool photograph and blurb about the grand opening of this awesome bridge. So the President of the Board of Local Improvements was my sister’s husband’s great-great-grandfather, which means I am … not related at all! In any case, an interesting couple of links and bit of family history – thanks Ben.

Barry over at free photo resources (an awesome blog for inspiration and tutorials – and a must-read on my RSS feed) sent me some questions as an interview for his site. It’s an honor to be asked and I’m working away to answer them all – things like “What photographers inspire you?” and “What does the future of tWp hold?” are on the docket. I’ll be sure to post a link when they are up on FPR.

To me, photography is about finding beauty in all places. Take today’s photograph – we were all driving back from Canada and our camping trip, having just crossed back into Montana from Alberta. The sunset was the most amazing color and I had spent the last three sunsets behind the wheel and not behind the camera. I was itching to find a spot with something interesting to put into the foreground – the pools of rainwater that had collected in the gullies of North Dakota had inspired me some weeks earlier, and I scoured the horizon for some water. Just as twilight peaked I saw it – we pulled off the road and tore down this gravel frontage road to this little cesspool on the Montana border. The colors were jaw-dropping, and I played around a bit – getting them to bounce off the mosquito-riddled cesspool and into my lens. That little gravel frontage road is a metaphor for that golden road we were taking home.

Photo by Justin Kern – Feel free to use images with links and credit – no commercial use without permission.