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I’ve been working on a series of photographs of the homes in my neighborhood. This project started after about three years of walks with my dog at different times of the day and encompasses a whole gamut of thoughts and feelings that I’ve had towards my home.

The more I saw the same things every day, the more meaning all of it took on for me until I had to get my camera and take photos. I suppose there’s a lot I could write about but I want to focus on two ideas regarding this project:

Anyone who studies Art History (as I did) is made abundantly aware of the importance of Classical and Neoclassical ideals in art and architecture. It doesn’t matter if you love it or hate it, it just is. One day it struck me, a bit humorously perhaps, that even manufactured homes (so antithetical to “natural”) in the Midwest can follow the same guidelines of symmetry and orderliness. If the homeowner has “Classical” yard ornaments, even better.

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There’s something about a straight-on look at these homes that intrigues me, the solid unbroken colors in particular, which remind me of an abstract painting. At the same time, there is a blankness, almost emptiness that I’m trying to capture. Ideally, I want a bright blue sky to offset the homes but in my area, that’s not always so easy to get. I feel I have a long way to go with this project but I’m enjoying the process.

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Now for a couple of problems I’m having. One is no matter where I position myself, no matter how I hold the camera; almost all of the photos have a slight upward look to them yet what I want is literally a straightforward shot. I thought about using my tripod but haven’t yet, mainly because I’m not sure it will solve the problem as the height of the tripod can be confining to my goals.

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The other issue is I can’t get exactly what I want in the shot. Ideally, I want just the home with nothing extraneous on either side of the shot but again, no matter where I position myself or the lens, I end up getting too much or too little. I’m wondering if a wide angle lens will solve this problem?