Finding a Different Perspective

Wherever I go, I always challenge myself to see things from a different viewpoint or perspective than the normal view we take.

Yesterday evening my wife and I went to downtown Dallas to visit the site of President John F. Kennedy's assassination nearly 50 years ago. Frankly, I just don't see the attraction of the site. It's nothing special, but always has a crowd of visitors still wandering around. Still, my wife, an immigrant from Peru, has developed a growing interest in US history, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to see where one of the most important events of the last half century took place.

I carried my trusty Canon 60D and my favorite walk-around lens, a Sigma 17-50 OS. Though I'd been here before, I always found the site quite unimpressive. It's interesting to easily imagine what it was like on that morning back in 1963 — the motorcade turning down Elm Street and passing beneath the Texas School Book Depository as Lee Harvey Oswald secretly took aim and fired at the President from the sixth floor window on the corner. Despite the historical significance, I just can't find the site particularly picturesque.

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A few weeks ago, while walking around the area with a Tokina 11-16 wide angle lens. I first noticed an "X" painted in the middle of the road. Immediately, I recognized that it marked the spot where Kennedy was shot. (Last night I noticed a second "X" marking the other spot where Kennedy was first hit.)  Despite the busy traffic on Elm Street, I timed a quick run into the road between red lights to get a quick picture of the "X" with the Depository building and the infamous window clearly seen in the background.

I liked this photo because it shows a perspective that I haven't seen in any other photos from the site. It captures the exact location where a nation was changed in an instant.

When we returned yesterday, I was looking at for another unique perspective on the site. One thing I've learned over the years is to walk around and look in all directions. Patience and a constantly roving eye can often lead to a photograph that is a cut above the normal tourist photo.

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We walked around for about 20 minutes as I explained the significance of the place to my wife. As we were heading back to the car, I happened to look up and see the window through a break in the trees which line Elm Street next to the Depository building. I continued walking before realizing that I had seen the window in a very different way.

I immediately walked back to the same spot on the sidewalk and looked up at the window. Suddenly I was seeing it in an entirely new light.

I imagined what it would have been like to have been standing on that same sidewalk nearly 50 years ago as the President of the United States rode by, waving at the all of us from the back of the Presidential convertible limousine.

All of a sudden a loud pop is heard quickly followed by another coming from over my left shoulder. As the President slumps forward and the crowd begins to react, I turn around to look up in the direction where the sounds came from.

Can you imagine being in that situation and seeing this same view in 1963? Can you imagine looking up through the trees and seeing the slender barrel of a rifle through the half-open window?

Look at this comparison of this shot with another basic shot of the window and the building. Which one do you think is more compelling?

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Never hesitate to shoot away with our camera. With today's digital cameras, you can shoot as long until your card is full or the battery runs out of juice. Professionals will tell you that for every "keeper" they get, they take an untold number of mediocre (and even poor) shots.

Getting more interesting photos is all about learning to look at things in different ways. It's all about practice and patience.

Believe me, if I can learn to do it, anyone can!