Shutter to Think: A focus right down the middle is needed to get it right

A couple of weeks ago I toured the National Manufacturing building along the Sterling riverfront. Sterling Main Street organized the tours as a way to gather data on the wants and needs from the community regarding the vacant manufacturing plant. It’s a riverfront revitalization effort.

One of the stops was the office floor of the former hardware builder with windows looking south across the river. I imagine plenty in the Sauk Valley have seen this view from time spent at the plant; I, however, had not.

Seeing the community you’ve grown up and worked in from literally a different perspective creates some quizzical thoughts. One starts to question what is known or thought to have been known.

All existentialism aside, it’s quite unnerving that seeing something a few feet higher and to the right could make me ponder some deeper ideas. There’s a lesson here in opening one up to be more aware of others’ perspectives. What is so clear to us might be marred to another.

Which segues nicely to this next bit – the choices I made with this photo. I jumped all over the board regarding depth of field on this image. My first try was to use the greatest limit of depth. This put that crack in the window and all the filth in pretty sharp focus. I think it told the story a bit about the 10-year-long vacancy, the condition of the building and the need for change along the riverfront.

For the next I went with a very shallow DoF, which pretty much erased any signs of breakage and soot.

Neither seemed right.

So I channeled my inner Goldilocks and found the one in the middle to be just right. You can still see the split and suggestions of dirt, but it’s easy to look past these things to the repeating patterns of the bridge and the flowing waters of the Rock. It’s easy to see the potential. It’ll take work and effort, but there’s hope here.

– Alex T. Paschal, follow me on Instagram @svmphotogs or message me at apaschal@shawmedia.com.