My camera always rides shotgun

Whether I am driving, biking or walking, my camera is with me. Long before people had phones that could take pictures, my camera was ever-present. A friend and I started a darkroom when we were in junior high and consequently, I have quite a few black and white photos from that time in my life.

Whenever I have been somewhere without my camera, invariably something interesting happens and I am left wanting. That has happened enough in my past so I keep it with me.

I am usually traveling alone so the camera is on the seat next to me. If I am on my bike, it is in my front basket. While the photos aren't always in focus or composed very well, they remind me of various moments. Here are some of my shots while traveling:

Bike trail across an old railroad bridge.

These are from

the LaCrosse / Onalaska /

Trempealeau area.

The Elroy - Sparta Trail

Madison sunrise over Starkweather Creek path.

As I drove home on the last day of school a song by Queen came on the radio. Then I noticed the van in front of me: Mercury.net Made me chuckle as I was loudly singing.

On the east side of Madison

I saw this vehicle and I thought, "T women", only in Madison. Only later did I realize it was "Two Men". ;-)

A person comes across many random things while walking or biking. Here is a greenie on the path. (This one needs a more clever thought.)

Also on a path I saw this and it made me think of Frankie and her funny joke that always makes me smile and think of her. What did the zero say to the eight? Nice belt!

I have a mild phobia about bridges and I've had to cross this one 8 times in the last year.

Seeing wind turbines gives me hope for the future.

And while I enjoy taking pictures, there are sometimes where I purposefully set down my camera and drink in the view with my senses only. I wrote a poem about that 4 - 5 years ago.

Photographs

By Deena Dawn Larsen

I have decades worth of photographs

In boxes,

In albums,

On computers,

On walls.

Each photograph takes me back

To a place,

To a time,

Of joy,

Of sadness.

The powerful photographs

Are the ones I didn't take...

The ones where ...

I didn't have my camera.

The MOST powerful photographs

Are the ones that haven't happened,

They only exist

As they play out in my mind

It is these powerful photographs

That haunt me,

That are forever etched in my brain,

Only visible by me