Figuring out how I construct meaning in my life feels like the essential project of this newsletter. When it works, I hear from you that it helped you sort out your own efforts at making sense of the world.
That’s my Substack in a nutshell: I try to figure out my stuff; it prompts you to figure out your stuff; and we reflect on it together.
There’s all kinds of ways of making meaning out of what’s around us, of course. Today, I want to explore a few creators who pay close attention to the world around them, to the things that spark joy or wonder or bemusement, and capture them in photographs. I’ll limit myself to Substack creators, for now. I’m going to share some of my favorites with you ... and then I’d like to ask for your help.
It’s hardly fair to start with Noah Kalina. It’d be like sharing a list of best writers and starting with Shakespeare. All the rest kind of pale in comparison. But Noah is my favorite.
Noah likes to look at things close at hand, in different light, at different times of day, and over long expanses of time. His collections of photos, which I’ve been looking at for years, have changed the way I look at the world around me.
He’s only been on Substack for a little while, but he was doing a different newsletter before that and his website is really rich.
I’ve been reading Bryn’s other ‘Stack, Campfire Notebook, for a while now, but she recently started on this new one that I find really intriguing, as she’s finding street art in her local town and bringing it together in cool ways. I like the lack of commentary and the tightness of the photos.
From his lush gardens and nearby woods in Montreal, Richard shares a daily photo of the surrounding flora and fauna. Sometimes he offers a few words of explanation, but as often as not it’s just a photo. For me, it’s a daily reminder to pay attention to the small things that flourish nearby.
“Street photography is one way to learn how to be fully present in a place,” writes Mark McGuire, “and to be open to whatever you find there.” His newish Substack illustrates this belief really nicely, and he’s helping me think about how to see the meaning in the landscape around me.
How You Can Help
I’m thinking about how I can be more intentional and deliberate about using photography to unpack the world nearby. I’ve done a bit of this in the past, with fog and wildlife out at the Slough, and with the Egg Car. But I’d like to do more with photographs as a way of unpacking and exploring meaning, and I’d love to know if my readers have some favorites in this “genre,” whatever the hell this genre is, or some thoughts on the photo essay as a writer’s tool.
If you know of some people who use photographs “like this,” I’d love it if you’d share it in the comments or send me an email. There are no wrong answers.
In the meantime, I’m starting to think about the nearby things that intrigue me— abandoned boats, hand-written signs, odd piles of stuff placed at the end of a driveway—and will occasionally share these with you (likely in a new section that you can ignore or unsubscribe from if you wish).
The song, This is a Photograph by Kevin Morby has been stuck in my mind for months. I sometimes listen to it on repeat through my headphones, using like a writing prompt as I write.
Thank you, Tom. I really appreciate this.