Northside Revisited

I'd like to continue today highlighting a few more images from my Northside project. It is so easy for us to ignore our immediate surroundings and miss the potential images that might greet our eyes each and every day without notice. In the mornings we are rushing past them on our way to work. In the evenings we might be too tired to recognize them after a long, hard day. And after a while we become immune to their latent potential while at the same time we dream of travel to strange and exotic lands that are sure to provide us with our next great image. Perhaps as an exercise every photographer should try this, to make a project of their immediate neighborhood, to try to see with a fresh perspective, a new set of eyes, the scenes and subjects that present themselves to us over and over again on a daily basis.

Body Shop ©David Sorcher 2012

The Auto Body Shop is just down the block from me on Apple Street. Clean, classic architectural design combined with nice color relationships, afternoon light and that one wisp white cloud are what attracted my eye.

 A Bullet for Jesus ©David Sorcher 2012

This storefront church has been just around the corner from me on Hamilton Ave. for years and this bullet hole has been in the glass for as long as i can remember. With the commercial strip reflected in the glass it seems to tease at a story that it is not quite fully prepared to reveal to us, leaving questions in my mind that will no doubt remain forever unanswered.

 Laurel & Hardy's ©David Sorcher 2012

Also on Apple Street, i have often wondered about the history of this place and more recently about it's future. I was drawn by the wonderful color here, the pastel greens and rusty reds against the deep azure sky and, of course, the mystery of what this place once was. A private club, a bar, a candy store? I have tried to research it and the only thing i found was one other person seeking the same lost history. Now this storefront has been sullied with graffiti and looks like it is about to be torn down, so i am glad i got to it when i did.

 Three Red Doors ©David Sorcher 2012

In a back lot off the avenue i couldn't help but be attracted by these three red doors. Choices are presented. Which door will YOU choose? What purpose did they serve and what lies behind each? Red is such and interesting color which holds symbolic meanings that range the emotional gamut all the way from love to hate. Or maybe that is all just one emotion, passion. It is a color that does always seem to demand out attention however we choose to interpret it. 

This is a scene now past, a relative blinking of an eye in the history of a neighborhood. Construction has replaced the past with the new and it's memory only lives here in my photograph. This is not to say that this shouldn't be so and that such a scene should remain static forever. But i am glad that it was noticed and photographed before it's passing.