Beauty in Banality

While I was getting the oil changed on the car this afternoon, I decided to pass the time by doing a bit of a photo shoot of the area around the garage.

At first glance, you would think that there’s nothing much around there of interest: a wide surface-level road that intersects with an interstate highway, gas stations, a grocery store, and all the other banalities of suburbia. This was a place designed with cars in mind, not pedestrians.

With a camera in hand, however, you see things differently. Wispy clouds served as a nice backdrop for roadside signage. The bland grocery store had a lonely, empty quality that I found somehow compelling. Traffic signs took on a dramatic presence when I zoomed my lens out to its widest-angle focal length and got up close to them.

As I walked around, I kept asking myself, “What does it feel like to walk around here, and how can I capture that in a photograph?”

A whole hour passed before I noticed the time. My car was done, and it was time to leave. My little walk was a good alternative to sitting impatiently in the waiting area.