Beauty in the Mundane

Photography is all about finding beauty in the common, ordinary, and mundane.

There is beauty all around you — it’s your duty to uncover it.

Purple umbrella on the ground with diagonal yellow line. Beautiful to me.

For example, if you have a hard time finding inspiration to shoot,

Photograph really ordinary stuff, and make it look beautiful and extraordinary.

The sucker mistake we make is thinking that we can only make good photos when we travel to exotic places.

Beauty of a lone chair against a blue background, and microphone stand in red ribbon.

But the secret to becoming a great photographer, and to be happy, fulfilled, and productive your entire life:

With your camera, uncover the beauty in the ordinary and mundane.

Beauty in Cheerios on the pavement

For example, Edward Weston was a genius, because he was able to find beauty in the human form through photographing the ordinary – like photographing peppers.

Pepper by Edward Weston

Beauty of red tomato soup against green background

The genius of Rene Magritte is because he was able to help us visualize and imagine the ordinary — and make it surreal, and extraordinary.

Broken hubcap on drainage. Beautiful to me.

Even for street photography, the reason I love it is because I have the opportunity to capture beauty in life, by photographing ordinary, mundane, everyday life.

Street photographers find the beauty in the Mundane, or the beauty of everyday life.

If anything, we shouldn’t call ourselves “street photographers”, but “everyday photographers.”

Couple and green wall. Marseille street photograph, 2017

What is an “everyday photographer”?

Spiral staircase. Marseille, 2017 #cindyproject

An everyday photographer treats everyday life as sacred, beautiful, and exciting. We photograph our “boring” everyday lives, and find joy in it.

Find joy in your everyday life. Heart and eye.

We photograph our food. Selfies of ourselves. We photograph shadows, common objects around the house. We photograph textures, nice light, nice colors — we photograph anything and everything, without discrimination.

Woman with cross neck tattoo. Berlin, 2017

Urban landscape of car wash. Berkeley, 2013

Selfie of my shadow in the suburbs of Orange County, with old car.

All beef hot dog, 50 cents. IKEA

What do you find beautiful?

Truck with carpets

So friend, let us continue to find beauty in the Mundane by putting on this new title as “everyday photographers”. The more beauty we find in everyday living, the more joy, meaning, purpose, and freedom we can feel in life.

KEEP IT SIMPLE,
ERIC

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