December 04, 2020
Five Blocks from Home
There is serendipity at work in our lives. It has happened to me a few times throughout my life, and serendipity is how I explain why a few years ago I signed up to receive the newsletter from NYC photographer James Maher.
Last summer, he came up with a contest to stimulate photographers to start shooting more during the pandemic. The contest - 5 Blocks from Home - a series of five photographs taken anywhere within a five-block distance from home, or in our home. The only guideline was not to take glamorized photographs but to capture the most interesting things we could find, or the most boring. It could be all houses or all people, or no people at all, or just pictures of lawn ornaments. Delighted, I got 3rd place in the contest.
Inspired by the response to the contest, James came up with an incredible concept to create an online group and invited me to be part of it - Close to Home Photo Salon - a community of people passionate about photography. Being part of this group has inspired me to shoot more and has pushed me out of my comfort zone when shooting, plus it has lots of education.
James Maher is most known for his street photography and this is the genre I had the least experience and interest in my photography journey, so there was no rational reason for me to sign up for his newsletter but serendipity had its way and it couldn't have brought me to a better place.