Up Against The Wall: Dogwalking on King George Street

Here’s a trick that I often find useful – find some scene that I like – then using it as a background or backdrop, wait for someone to walk into the scene. You need something photogenic to use for the backdrop… a handsome or unusual building, a path in a park during autumn, or, as in this case, a nicely-textured wall.

This kind of thing is an example of the whole being more than the sum of the parts. The building, wall, or whatever may be attractive, but by itself, will seem too static. On the other hand, a person walking by an uninteresting, distracting, or ugly background probably won’t be an image worth a second look. But combine an engaging background with passerby, and you often get something compelling.

I had driven by this wall on King George Street in Annapolis some months ago. It was early morning, and I really liked the way the directional light brought out the textures of the wall. Filing the scene away in my sieve-like memory, I resolved to return with my camera to catch some passers-by.

Finally, last Saturday morning, I packed up my camera bag, drove back down to Annapolis and walked to that spot. Stationing myself across the street for over an hour and pre-composing my shot, I snapped away in machine-gun mode as various individuals and groups happened by.

This one is my favorite out of those hundreds of images. It’s my new acquaintance, Keri, and her two fine dogs Big and Murray. Actually, Keri was walking on my side of the street, and, after explaining what I was after, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind making a pass with her dogs against this wall.

I got five shots of her walking by. I like this one the best because of the way she and Big fill the large space between the windows, while Murray, in trail, tucks in nicely under the leftmost one.

Sorry I've been AWOL here. I have lots of photos that I've taken this year (mostly already posted to my new blog) and I'll start posting them here as well.