August 22, 2025

Accepting the mundane [musings]

Leica M4-P | Voightlander Color Skopar 35mm f/2.5 P II VM | CineStill 50D
Alabama, 2024

I was working on finishing up a roll of film at the end of December. I’d put in an order for my next batch of film to be processed, and I was determined to get it sent out before the post office closed for Christmas. We’d just arrived in Alabama a couple of days prior, and despite not having visited in over a year, I was having a hard time finding compositions I liked. I kept thinking about the work that has been shared by photographers I admire. I imagine the photographs I would make in those locations: the big cities, the mountains, the small towns, the various coasts. But I don’t live in a big city, or on the coast, and my small town doesn’t seem picturesque. A part of me hoped that getting away from my everyday surroundings would mean being surrounded by interesting subjects and compositions. And yet, I found myself at a loss.

Olympus Infinity Stylus | Kodak Colorplus 200
Alabama, 2024

I frequently lament “wasting” film on the subjects of my everyday life: the trees just off my balcony, my dogs running around, the sun filtering through our bedroom curtains. Those capture my attention in the moment, sometimes even convincing me they’re worth their space on celluloid. Despite knowing the general contents of any given roll of film, I still hope that something breathtaking will reveal itself after it’s been sent away for processing— that I’ll somehow have forgotten that I did in fact take a trip to the Tetons (I’ve never been there) or visit the Cascades (I’ve never been there either). I find myself feeling down for not being able to capture the natural wonders of the world regularly.

Fujifilm XT-5 | Fuji XF 35mm f/2 R WR
Pennsylvania, 2025

Although my film doesn’t return to me with some photos from a forgotten adventure, I find myself staring at each photo with the same enthusiasm as if it did. Those photos of the trees and curtains and dogs always make me smile. There will always be photographers capturing breathtaking scenes, and sometimes it’ll be me. But there are also many, many photographers capturing their own version of trees and curtains. Their mundane walk around their neighborhood seems so foreign and exciting to me because it’s not my neighborhood. It is instead my expectations that I’m realizing I need to manage. I do travel, if only a little. We take regular enough day trips to the big cities around us. We live in the mountains, just not the picturesque mountains west of the Mississippi River. Our mountains are soft and rolling, not the jagged, snow-capped peaks that I often see photographed.

Fujifilm XT-5 | Fuji XF 35mm f/2 R WR
Pennsylvania, 2025

As mundane as my town is to me, it would be a lie if I said that there isn’t a certain happiness I feel when driving through the rivers and mountains in our part of the Appalachians. I think about the collections of photographs that others can put together, and I ask myself why I can’t do the same. I certainly have a large number of photos that I’ve yet to publish, but it’s difficult for me to group enough of them together to justify a dedicated post. But maybe I’m looking at that wrong, too? Maybe my subject is The Mundane. Now that I’m shooting film regularly, I’m a lot more conscious of my photography. I don’t have a delete button or the luxury of some inconceivable limit on a memory card— each frame costs me real time and money. Maybe this is why I take so long to finish a roll of film. I question myself frequently about whether a shot is “worth it” or if I feel I already have too many like it. I think that I can certainly afford to be more trigger-happy. I find myself missing shots from second-guessing myself on a semi-regular basis. Many of my favorite photographs are made from moments where I saw something I liked, composed, and took the shot. Not the moments that I had to mull over for several minutes before deciding to make something of it.

Fujifilm XT-5 | Fuji XF 35mm f/2 R WR
Pennsylvania, 2025

I may not be comfortable with how mundane a lot of my photographs feel, but it’s something that I’m going to work toward. My Mundane may not look like yours, but it’s not supposed to. And maybe the beauty I find in others’ work is the same beauty someone will find in mine.

Leica M4-P | Voightlander Color Skopar 35mm f/2.5 P II VM | CineStill 50D
Pennsylvania, 2025

So, here they are: the places I've been, the places I frequent, and the life I live. The moments and the frames that have never felt special enough, significant enough, memorable enough. Here are my life's in-between moments that deserve their place on film or on a memory card. They're mundane to me, but maybe you'll like them. If I'm honest, I like them, too.