A friend recently told me about a photo challenge: take a picture every six minutes while on a walk. The treat of some time alone on a gorgeous afternoon seemed like the perfect chance to try it out.
I tried to pay attention to my thoughts as I walked, tried to jot down what I was thinking when I paused to crouch down or look up. The result is disjointed, but that’s indeed how I work, most of the time. Not everything lines up – life comes as it comes. So with that in mind, here’s a bit of my Saturday, wandering through my town…
At the end of my walk, I took one last picture just because I liked it, and that’s the cover photo for this post. I liked the challenge; it gave me a project to attend to while walking and helped me see the world with new eyes. That was because of what I photographed but also because of what I left out; I saw what I wanted to capture in addition to what I actually did zoom in on.
I was surprised that my favorite picture was the second one, taken outside of a bar that has been shuttered for the last year. What are the stories there? Where have all those regulars been hiding?
It isn’t earth-shattering, but there’s no doubt I’ll do this again. I like a day that invites me to see things in a new way, that shows me again that the world is full, that takes me a bit out of my routine and reminds me to be a student of this life. Even surrounded by the everyday, I can still explore.
The Wandering Introvert 