Voyaging: A Quick Morning Photo Walk in Denver, Colorado

On our most recent trip to Denver, Colorado, we stayed in the recently-opened Hyatt Centric Downtown Denver. The rooms are beautiful and it’s within walking distance of Union Station, which is where we depart the train after arriving from the airport.

Downtown Denver is fantastic for many reasons: there’s a lot to do; the variety of diners are seemingly innumerable; and, the architecture is impressive, just to name a few reasons. For those reasons, I like to wake up early and take a quick walk around to “see what I see” as I like to say.

Walking with no plan is sometimes the best plan because it allows one to be open and receptive to whatever one comes across that might make a good picture.

Denver receives many, many days of sunlight throughout the year, and this particular morning was going to be one of those sunlight-receiving days. For this reason, it’s nice to get an early start at photographing because the light is at a lower angle to the horizon, which makes a more pleasing quality of light, I believe.

Not far from the hotel, I had crossed an intersection and looked to the my right when I saw a sign with the word ‘Paramount’ on it. I actually walked passed it. Then I stopped.

More and more I’ve been listening to the voice inside that says, ” Maybe you should photograph what you just saw.” It might sound silly, but it can be easy sometimes to pass by a potential photographic subject because it might not seem interesting enough. This is especially true, at least for me, with film.

Putting my steps in reverse, I soon found myself in the same spot with the same viewpoint of the ‘Paramount‘ sign. Since I was definitely going to make a picture this time, I wanted to wait for a person, or people, to enter the frame. This is because I feel like a human presence adds aesthetically to pictures, especially street photography.

Finally, a person entered the sidewalk with a bicycle and I made a picture.

It’s not an earth-shattering image, but I was proud of taking the picture and working a little bit to get it.

Having a feeling of regret in regards to photographs you didn’t take can be disappointing. It’s inevitable, I suppose, for photographers, but I’m at least making a conscious effort to minimize those regrets.

Next time you’re out and about taking pictures, listen to the voice inside you that says “Maybe you should take that picture.”