Cabot Tower, Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland

© Christine Mastroianni, all rights reserved

Sometimes I wonder: what's the big deal about photography anyway? Everyone's camera, regardless of its mechanisms or intricacies, performs in the same manner. The imagery being captured on film, or as is the norm these days, in pixels, is generally visible to anyone who passes by. What makes a photograph great or even interesting? Is it because they have an alphabet of degrees after their name and possess the knowledge and finances to use the best equipment that the hobby has to offer? Or is it simply because the camera, any camera, was handy, and the person wielding it thought to capture that image in a way that made him or her smile.

So many people visit icons like The Eiffel Tower or Niagara Falls every day, participate in group tours or anniversary celebrations, and meander along municipal trails or ocean beaches, being present in any given location, the mundane and the exemplary. But sometimes, someone will allow him or herself to be swept away by what is being presented to the eye, dares to stand still and drink in the lines and angles, the colours and patterns, to consider its origin or imagine its potential, and to revel in yet another wondrous facet of life. And sometimes, that person has a camera slung across their chest.

This blog illustrates what happens when that person is me.