Snapshots from my Travels: USA

Explore Landscapes #87

Last week I shared some of my old Kodachrome images from Chamonix. This week I decided to share some of my favorite black and white images from my trips around the USA.

Mailboxes, Pinyon Pines (CA) | © 2010 Jon Norris

After all my photo archive ‘dumpster-diving’ over the past few weeks, I’ve surfaced so many older, and non-landscape photos, I wanted to share more of them.

It’s made me realize that I’ve zoned into landscape photography maybe a little too much and that I really need to get out and photograph more broadly. Also, dare I say it, I may need to photograph outside the boundaries of Joshua Tree National Park.

This post of older images (warning - there will be more!) is a reminder to myself of how much I’ve enjoyed shooting abstract, urban, black and white images over the years.

Clockwise from top left: New York (NY), Sag Harbor (NY), New York (NY), Hollywood (CA) | © 2009-2019 Jon Norris

I’m not going to give an exhaustive explanation or description of each of the images (I can hear sighs of relief as you’re reading this), but rather, let the images speak for themselves.

These images represent a selection of ‘things’ that have caught my eye (or should I say lens) as I’ve traveled around the USA over the past 15 years or so.

Clockwise from top left: LAX, Los Angeles (CA), New York (NY), Sag Harbor (NY), DTLA (CA) | © 2009-2019 Jon Norris

When I’m not in the desert shooting landscapes I like nothing more than exploring the ‘urban jungle’. There’s something very rewarding about just wandering around somewhere you haven’t been before, typically without a map in hand, and just seeing what you can find. That’s how the majority of these images were discovered.

Clockwise from top left: New York (NY), New York (NY), New York (NY), New York (NY) | © 2009 Jon Norris

Due to my background as an engineer and draughtsman (drafter in US English) I’ve always been drawn (pun intended) to shapes, patterns, lines, tones, contrast, etc. I think visually and as I explore a city all of these features make themselves seen.

Clockwise from top left: Southampton (NY), Sag Harbor (NY), Sag Harbor (NY), Sag Harbor (NY) | © 2015-2017 Jon Norris

I’m also attracted to the mundane and forgotten. The ‘things’ that many people look past when they see them, and don’t actually see them at all.

Clockwise from top left: DTLA (CA), Universal City (CA), Venice Beach (CA), Hollywood (CA) | © 2010-2019 Jon Norris

I certainly would never describe myself as a street photographer - but do love the work that photographers who explore that genre produce. I would describe myself as more of an urban/abstract photographer when I’m in travel/explore mode.

Clockwise from top left: Miami (FL), Truckee (CA), Mobile (AL), New York (NY) | © 2009-2016 Jon Norris

I hope you’ve enjoyed this eclectic mix of photographs. I’ll get back to my normal program of landscape photography soon, but at the moment, these trips down memory lane are what’s resonating with me.