Underfoot and out-of-hand, By Robert de Gast, Aug 11, 2006

Are you curious why the photographs you make in San Miguel are better than the photographs you made in Los Angeles, or Miami, or Toronto? Well, it's probably because you're taking your sweet time. You're no longer moving along the freeway at 70 miles an hour. You're walking.

You're walking the streets of San Miguel at two miles per hour and you've been taking deep breaths before doing anything. Welcome to paradise, where the pace is slow!

"The legs are the wheels of creativity," Albert Einstein famously wrote. And here we are, without the car, walking the streets and alleys of our fair city. We actually have time to think about what we might want to photograph! We can go back a few steps if we change our mind and take another picture! Try doing that on the Santa Barbara Expressway!

Still, there is no doubt that photography is imbued with anxiety. There is not much relaxing about the notion of taking pictures. I've been involved with photography for half a century, and every once in a while I still have anxiety dreams that always involve-guess what-photography.

In those dreams I'm late for a flight, the film is ruined in the lab, the client declares bankruptcy. And in some of those dreams, the camera is smashed to pieces. That can also happen here. There is also a lot of anxiety about walking around San Miguel. I don't mean that it is not safe. It's just that you have to pay attention, step by step, to all those "gringo traps" that lie in wait for us.

When you walk around in Paris you look ahead, at the vistas. When you walk around in New York City you look up, at the skyscrapers. But when you walk around in San Miguel, you have to look down, all the time. The wires, the holes and ledges are ubiquitous.

I've been working on a photo essay on the subject. The working title? Underfoot and Out-of-Hand. And they are. If I return to San Miguel in another life I would seriously consider a career as an orthopedic surgeon. Live in a great place and actually make some money. Is that cool, or what?

I've noticed lately that some of the very small digital cameras come equipped with wrist straps. Sort of elegant in a way, a little jewel dangling from a pendant. But if you lose your balance or stub your toe, you'll reach out to the nearest stable object.

Guess what will hit the sidewalk first? Repairing a digital camera is not something you want to get involved in. Please consider replacing the wrist strap with a neck strap and carry the camera in front of your body. Cheap insurance, and your tiny, pricey investment might still look like a great necklace. Enjoy your walks, but be careful out there, and strap that camera around your neck, not your wrist! Take care and take pictures!

Robert de Gast is the author of nine books, including, most recently, Behind the Doors of San Miguel. He conducts photography workshops and offers short tutorials. He can be reached at 152-7396 or his email address: robertdegast@hotmail.com