Why It’s Important To Look Up

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved taking photos. My first camera was a simple Kodak disposable at a 9th birthday party. Now, I shoot with a Nikon D850 as I’ve gathered lenses and experience throughout the years. My parents, grandparents, heck, even my great grandparents, chose photography as the medium through which they wanted to capture the lives of themselves and their loved ones.

While none of my recent ancestors or relatives were professional photographers, the images they captured (a few shared here above), have this nostalgic beauty that I was immediately drawn to as a young boy. They didn’t overthink photography as an art, but rather they simply froze these familial moments in time through a quick snap here or there. Through their dedication to nonchalant photographic documentation, my family has amassed thousands of these photos through the past few generations. I quickly fell in love with photography as *my* medium of choice for seizing the fleeting moments of life.

<Snapshots from my recent trip to Brazil taken on $4 disposable cameras>

But photography’s influence on my life has been more than just a way to capture moments, it has taught me to look at the world around me more inquisitively and may, in fact, be part of the genesis of my curiosity. Photography has taught me to look more intentionally at those places most overlook. To wait the extra second for the mosaic of a golden hour street scene to unfold. To walk even just a bit slower to appreciate the colorful chaos that jostles by me on these New York streets. To look up when everyone’s heads are down.

Photography has taught me to look more intentionally at those places most overlook.

So today, as you sit at your desk, or ride your bike home, or turn down for bed, take a pause and examine something familiar in an unfamiliar way. And who knows, maybe one time you’ll capture something–either with your eyes or with a camera–that you didn’t expect.