Framed and matted print from a series created by graphic designer Jeff Williamson. 

Image Size: 9.5"w x 12.5"h

Frame size: 16" x 20"

Most streets provide a feast of shapes and textures, colors and shadings that if one were to take the time and just look are remarkable. Not only is the street inherently fascinating and attractive, it also holds endless possibilities of interpretation, can be a vehicle for self expression and, most importantly, can serve as a metaphor for the ability we all share to transform the ordinary, the mundane, and the unexamined within into something glorious and powerful.

I photographed the street, literally. I explored the cracks and oil stains, potholes, patchwork, gravel, and gutters, sewer grates, manhole covers and all manner of detritus that blew across its surface and found lodging in the street’s limitless nooks and crannies. Each step provided a whole new universe for study.

I found myself going from one to the next on my computer screen applying color and manipulating lighting in a fashion dictated by each individual image. What I ended up with was a series of colorized images that reminded me of abstract expressionist canvasses, only of course they were not on canvas, nor painted in a traditional manner.

The images, once enhanced, enable us to see something new in something we completely take for granted. It’s something we think of, if we think of it at all, in terms only of its function. Most of us never consider the beauty that lies just beneath our feet. What other unrecognized beauty might we find right under our noses? What else don’t we see in our immediate world that could inspire us, perhaps to greatness.

All we have to do is look around us, and within us, to find the beauty and the possibility that life has to offer. If we choose to seize upon it, that is, put our personal stamp upon it, who knows what may result?