openvirtue

Inspiration is a funny thing.

I was walking home the other day from the metro, and I don't know how to describe what happened other than to say that I saw the image above in my mind. It's a combination/mash-up of two of my recent Instagram photos, which I hadn't really thought about since I'd taken them:

IMG_20140104_170438   IMG_20140201_143843

I don't really know what made my mind combine these two-- I have very limited experience in photoshop (very limited) and have always had a more straight forward style, my reflecting ball series excepted. Maybe it was the similar contrails in the sky that made my mind connect them. I do know what inspired me to take the images in the first place-- I'm a sucker for sayings. For quotes carved in buildings, for "deep thoughts" written on benches or pasted on stop signs. I like photographing the different ways that people express themselves with words. Always have. And combining these two appealed to me-- a beer ad and a historical building, both talking about opening worlds in very different ways.

The whole thing got me thinking-- this is a series waiting to happen. 

So, welcome to my new series, The Written Word. I have no idea how often I'll post a new image in the series, or how far it will go. I don't know if I'll always present the image as a layered composition like this, or as a diptych, or in some other fashion. But I plan to explore the way we all interact with words: high art, low art, architectural gems to Post It notes. I'm excited to see where it leads!

If you have a favorite quote engraved on a building somewhere, or see an interesting piece of writing somewhere around town, please feel free to let me know about it! Leave a comment below!