The Unintended Traveller

What is the worth of something?

Do things have intrinsic value? Or is the value of something equal to the desire of those who want it for their own reasons?

It would be hard to argue that food does not have intrinsic value. Lineups of people with massive amounts of failed currency in hand to buy bread and other food items is a difficult one to argue.

Value is a very multi tiered

and very complex discussion. Economies are built on value. Gold and other precious metals, gemstones, oil, agriculture and more form a complex web raised on the framework of infrastructure to create an economy for a country to compete globally.

So let’s talk about my picture. It’s just a picture. And I like it. A lot. Many people might like it and many may not. The reason that is of little consequence to me is that my picture does not represent personal like or dislike of myself personally. People who are my friends today will be my friends tomorrow whether they love or hate my picture, or are completely unmoved and neutral about it.

I mention value because this picture

represents an interesting thought process for me to digest. It’s one frame, captured by me, of something I found interesting. The original photo, unedited and untouched was not that interesting to me. I loved the composition and the direction down, away and turning.

In order for me to tell the story or convey the feeling I had for the photo I needed to create something that the camera did not emphasize on its own. I wanted to bring out the amazing green and yellow mosses that had grown on the wall. I wanted to create darkness outside of the walkway to make it menacing, uninviting and mysterious. All good reasons to stay on the walkway.

What is interesting to me

is that I worked very hard so I could travel to the Dominican Republic. I bought new clothes, I booked a hotel, I got on a plane that presumably had a pilot, owned by shareholders. There were for sure stewardesses and one steward. I took this photo with a camera made by Fujifulm in Japan. Millions of stacked, compounded man hours and untold R&D bucks went into making my camera. The sensor is likely made by Sony and believe me when I tell you there are Fuji parts in Sony cameras too. As is the case with licensed tech between camera giants, cell phone makers, computer makers, auto makers and so on and so forth.

I value my camera very much and human effort is tied to piece of tech gear that causes me to appreciate it from a very human perspective. When camera sales are disrupted because there is a huge earthquake in Japan and manufacturing plants are damaged, it matters to me.

I paid for nice meals on my trip, excursions, cabs, hot shaves, massages and more. And I travelled in a gondola up a mountain to see the Dominican version of Brazil’s Jesus monument. And. I saw this walkway too.

What is the value of my photo?

In a sea of creative people who enjoy being recognized for their creativity why does my photo matter? Well, it doesn’t really. Yes it means something to me, and maybe it will mean something to you.

Maybe my explanation of how I decided to present the photo makes it mean more to you. Only you can decide that for yourself. The best part here is, people get to tell each other how they feel with their stake. You can put money in my tip jar if you love it, if you like it more than you hate it you can give it a percentage and if you hate it you can take money out of my tip jar if your account is strong enough to do so. Just remember people have longer memories than elephants.