Acceptance of a City

For the past 15 some years I have lived near Jacksonville FL and only now have I started to fully understand it. If you have been to Jacksonville you know there is not much going on downtown, especially not on a game day. It is mainly office oriented with a few exceptions that include The Landing, MOSH, MOCA, Chamblin Book Mine, The Florida Theater, and a handful of others. Jacksonville has struggled to gain more interest over the years with mixed results, but it has had some highlights such as the super bowl back in 2005. Yet even that was fleeting. My personal illumination of the city came in the form of my mother's 1975 Minolta 35mm camera. She gave it to me to use in my black & white photography class last year. Channeling my love for architecture I decided to photograph bridges for my class, but I ran out of usable material in Savannah. It was then that I made a weekend trip home to photograph bridges in Jacksonville because I remembered how many bridges are in the city. You have probably seen some of these bridge shots since I have posted some before and even entered a few into contests, but instead of just being beautiful images they represent a photographer's journey towards understanding a city he had almost written off. By venturing out into the depths of Jacksonville I was able to discover all the hidden treasures it had to offer and I brought them to life via the photographic medium for all to see. After 15 years I can finally say that I know the city and how to navigate its infrastructure. All it took was the spark of interest and a 35 year old camera.