My pilot post begins at the end of my first day of classes and the first time I explore Exeter with my camera.
The center of the Exeter begins at the Cathedral, a 15 minute brisk, downhill walk from my residence at Exeter University. As I walk, I pass by the slightly out of budget, but conveniently placed Co-op, where I spent my first few pounds buying eggs and scones for breakfast, over a small bridge, under which a train rushes by, and beside the John Lewis department store, the tallest landmark on mainstreet -- my topographical beacon home.
Today, is about walking. As I move through the city, the chilly, late September air promises an early fall. The next 10 months I will endeavor on a new personal photo project -- to photograph my daily walks through the city -- with the hope of learning about my new home through the practice of photographing it. Being “On Assignment” as a photographer has always meant a presence and awareness of my environment, recording what I see, impacted, perhaps more powerfully, by how I see -- through deep listening and awareness. As I travel to England, even though we share a language, my photographic eye will change, is changing, deepening, growing with each new experience. It requires learning a new cultural language. I feel it in how I walk with my camera. Moving through a crowd that seems to know whether to walk on the left of right side, yet I can’t quite find the pattern. I see it in the texture of each space; the architecture, the way the community moves in and out of local pubs, the way a young man and women hold themselves as they move through the darkening street together. I hear it when the crosswalk begins to beep, singling the walk sign. I hear it in the beautiful, diverse, and constantly shifting accents around me.
A day of rain, gives way to a beautiful sunset. Light moves across the city.
