Little Town Photographer

If you’re lucky to live in a little town for a long time, you might have the great good fortune to become the town photographer.

Not necessarily the proprietor of a successful photography business - perhaps you have some other job or profession that feeds you - but you might just be the vital photo journalist cum artist cum town pest that the place needs.

Some towns never want to be seen - we’ve all visited places like this. They’re made up entirely of back streets and dead-end roads. We search for the main drag and the residents move it before we get there. Every day is Saturday after the shops shut.

Some towns are a Venetian carnival, 24/7. They never close and every day brings another festival or procession or public show. It is a relief to gun the car and clear the city limits before they start the next one. What you need is to be a householder in a place that keeps to a happy medium, and become known as the person who will cover the local sports, shows, and ceremonies - and who can turn out good cooking quality pictures of the real life of the place. It will cost you - time and petrol and irritation are only some of the things you’ll need to deal with. You’ll go to some truly horrible affairs. You will be abused. You will wonder what the heck you are doing - but you will also see some pieces of memorable history. And if you train yourself to capture it well, you will be a force for good in that little town.

Everyone needs to remember. To remember the good times as well as the bad - to be proud or ashamed. If you can train yourself to be a a good recorder, you are far more valuable than any artist, icon, or legend that tries to promote themselves in the photographic world. Tell the truth. Show the truth. Your little town can be an entire universe if you do it right.