A Project

For the better part of 12 years I rode the Washington, DC, Metro to work and back home, boarding at Cleveland Park, changing at Metro Center or Gallery Place/Chinatown, and ending up at Smithsonian or L’Enfant Plaza. Before I got my first camera I just rode and observed —- commuters, tourists, interns, military personnel, families, couples, school groups. I thought about where they might have worked or what sight they’d visit that day, where they came from. Most people read —- the free WaPo paper, the Wall Street Journal, the NYTimes, sometimes a book, but mostly Blackberries, iPhones, tablets, and laptops. Some people invited a story —- this one’s off to a job interview, that one hurried out the door and mis-buttoned her blouse, he’s got a presentation today, they’re visiting from Iowa for the first time.

Once I had my camera, I carried it openly on my commute, usually with a 28mm or 50mm lens and a wide open aperture. I wanted to capture moments that hinted at stories, that invited the viewer to imagine a character, what led to a scene, or what happened next. Most people were unaware (I got pretty good at stealth shooting, although I never had a camera that didn’t give itself away with a shutter click), others ignored me, and a few were openly annoyed.

After I showed a few to some friends, one suggested I call this a project and title it “In Transit.” And so my first photo project was born. Before that I had no idea that such a thing even existed. A person made photographs of people, places, and things. I didn’t think to deliberately select and organize them into a “project,” much less purposely seek out a subject or theme and shoot according to a plan. Since then I’ve tried a few, but I keep coming back to this one.

I like it for its simplicity: people —- alone, inside train, underground, moving together. Too often I overthink photography, and this is a reminder to keep moving, keep looking, keep shooting.