Motivation

Sometimes as a photographer I lose motivation. I run out of ideas. I get tired of seeing the same type of pictures on social media. I start to search for new subjects to shoot. Different types of photography. Different places to see. Today, as I sat in my office looking over past photos, I rummaged through my memories for places or people I could shoot. I remembered the City of Perris and their old town area known as the Promenade District and I decided to take a little drive.

The City renovated many of the older buildings. These bildings are historical and the city kept them looking as they did 50 plus years ago. It is essentially one street [D Street] and it is about 1/4 mile long. It is mostly Latino owned businesses and the smell of tacos and carne asada floats through the air. The sound of Mexican music can be heard from the passing vehicles or the busy restaurants. I parked, grabbed my camera and started walking. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the mid-seventies. A beautiful winter day in southern California. I slapped on my Sigma 35mm lens. This is my favorite lens for street or architectural photography. I decided I wanted to practice composition and also try and capture the essence of the Promenade. I started walking north and right away noticed the Perris Market. The sun was behind me shining on the market making the green and red colors very bright. I composed the shot by placing the market right in the middle of my view finder. I wanted equal space left and right of the picture. I wanted to capture the beautiful color and personality of the market. Red and green happen to be complimentary colors so I felt this would be a nice picture.

A little further north and I saw the Southern Hotel. In 1886, swiss immigrants Bernardo and Marcellina Bernasconi completed construction of the Southern Hotel. It was the first hotel in Perris to meet the needs of travelers and miners in the San Jacinto Valley at the turn of the 19th centuary. The building was restored in the early 1990’s and now stands proudly exuding its historical presence.

I continued walking and the Perris Theater caught my eye. The Art Deco style building was built in 1946 by Tom Sharp. The City of Perris bought the building and restored it. It is currently empty but protected by the City as a historical resource. I was able to capture the colorful building from two angles, preferring the northern view that shows the name and facade. Across the street to the south I saw a vintage looking car repair shop. Pop’s Auto stood prominently with it’s 1950’s charm. I was able to take a couple pictures of the auto shop.

I started to head back to my car and I came across two beautiful young ladies. Each holding apparel they had just bought at the Mexican boots and clothing store. I asked them if I could take pictures of them and they gladly said yes.

I started the day feeling unmotivated. I made the decision to get up, grab my camera and just go shoot. I picked an interesting place close to home and made an effort to go capture its personality. It created the motivation I needed and turned out to be a lot of fun. So when you feel unmotivated, grab your camera and just go shoot. Pick an interesting neighborhood or historical downtown and go capture its essence. It is a lot of fun and you might even get some good pictures!!