Inspiration: Looking Up

I recently went to a talk given by Pei Ketron (@pketron, Penelope’s Loom) in the Apple Store of downtown San Francisco. Her talk was a part of Apple’s #startsomethingnew campaign, and it was the first time I decided to get “out there” and meet someone new from the Instagram world.

Pei’s photography is beautiful, crisp, clean, and just so comfortable to look at. There’s a brilliant quality to her photographs that just satisfies my inner lust for beauty. Go check out her stuff. She’s all about clean lines, symmetry, patterns, perspective, and a lot of things I love.

Also, she’s super nice.

For the talk, she had gone on a walk of San Francisco in search of inspiration (after being instructed by Apple to photography something along the lines of what she is known for, regardless of their “start something new” motto), and a lot of the photos she showed us were of the towering buildings of downtown San Francisco. Looking up at them.

So, in search of my own inspiration, I also went for a stroll in San Francisco, echoing Pei’s walk. I had my little film Canon AE-1 in tow, and I was determined to take my own version of her photos. Not to copy, of course. But to explore an area of photography I had never tried before.

It was eye opening. It’s so easy to go day-to-day in a city without truly stopping and looking at one’s surroundings. There is so much we miss as we scurry about our day to day lives! Exploring the Financial District (FiDi) is not something I’ve done normally.  But the shapes!  The sky!  The surreal and abstract nature of the city!  What was especially weird is knowing that these photographs are actually a macro-portrait of all the people working in these buildings.  Crazy, hey?

This blog is about searching for my own inspiration and figuring out my goals in life. It’s also about exploring beauty and taking steps towards happiness. Here we go!