The commute in photos (and some general commentary on photography)

There was a time when photography was done with film. Back then we pushed f-stops, time exposed to capture the most subtle of movements, we burned and dodged, rolled film onto a reel in complete darkness, and exposed ourselves to harmful chemicals in an effort to show everyone what we saw of the world. Photography is a dying art form.

Now is a time of instant gratification, over saturation of snapshot photography, and a heavy reliance on post-processing software. Never before have there been more people with a camera in their hands at all times without looking like a tourist, with the ability to share with the world in an instant.

I still very much appreciate photography in its current state, but only when the basic fundamentals are applied. To me, the perfect photograph is that which existed at the time the shutter opens. Anything else is just a manipulation.

I take photos to recall my past and to remember the beauty of the mundane. I don’t always carry a real camera wherever I go, but I always have the camera on my phone – a cheesy low megapixel camera with no way to adjust exposure and shutter speed – if you can even call it a camera. But even then, it serves its purpose – to capture what is often overlooked and to refresh my memory in future years of the things that are often forgot.

This past Friday I had to commute to my job, and thanks to a busted transmission and a few extra minutes between trains, I was able to snap a couple photos. Here are a few that stood out: