Photographing Distressed Objects

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 – All Rights Reserved

I am not the sharpest guy on the block when it comes to pop culture and current trends. So forgive me if I just noticed this – and it’s not news to any of you…but I have seen a remarkable increase in the number of photographers who like to photograph distressed items. Old cars, old warehouses, old anything.

It’s so different from the type of photography I was raised on. I always spent time looking for traditional or classical beauty. The notion that there is beauty to be found in old and deteriorating subjects struck me as something worth exploring.

Then, I started examining how much the HDR craze merges with this and I realized, I was doing some of this photography myself. Many of my HDR subjects are old cars. And the fact that I am full of nostalgia for these objects made me wonder if that’s what drives the desire in others to photograph distressed objects.

This post isn’t designed to teach a lesson, rather just to spark some thinking on the subject in my readers. I would like to hear your thoughts. I have been experimenting with using Twitter and the Photofocus.com site together and so far, I like the results. So if you want to chime in on this, send me a Tweet – @ScottBourne and let me know what you think? Do you like to photograph old, distressed objects? Do you think this is just a fad, a trend or a genre that’s here to stay? Do you think nostalgia or the new tools like HDR have impacted the popularity of this type of photography? I look forward to reading your comments on Twitter.

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