Across The Road
By Averi Cummings
Documentary Photography is a way of capturing the world around us in a progressive manner, capturing change and contrast within the lives of those who surround us. In my images, I thought it would be interesting to photograph the different types of people who walk the sidewalk just outside of my apartment building. They are always so close to me yet I know nothing about them. There were times when I saw someone repeatedly, allowing me to build the assumption that they live relatively near me. However, capturing others movements from a distance doesn’t allow me to capture their stories, it only allows me to create an idea in my head of how I see them. In lots of cases, document photography tells a story, but in my case I think that documenting the intersection and those who cross it documents my point of view. I am not telling the story of the people I have photographed, but I am telling the story of my life, how I observe the outside world, and what information I can assume just by glancing out my window.
People are alway going places, doing things, and have their mind filled with tasks to complete by the end of the day. Walking gets you from destination to destination to complete these tasks. While looking out my window at the people walking and crossing the street, I like to imagine where they are going. For instance, in the first image, the girl with her dog could be on their way to the dog park behind my apartment. The other person in the picture could be walking home after spending the night at a friends house or heading home after attending school. What I find most interesting in the next two images is that the two men are holding bags. This leaves room for more interpretation as they could have just gone grocery shopping, clothing shopping, purchasing a present for someone close to them, anything. I also am intrigued by the fact that they are both looking off into the distance. It is like how I look out my apartment window for inspiration, they look around the outside world for a story. Everyone has their own interpretation of the things they see, and that is the story I tried to tell through my 4 images.
