Daily Commute

I've been back in Philadelphia for nearly four months now, and on most days I have made the trip from Southeast Center City to the area right around City Hall for work. Assuming twenty work days a month, this works out to 160 times that I have had to cover a certain strip of the city. I try to vary my route as much as possible, but you can only cover eighteen blocks a very finite number of different ways. In an attempt to keep this art of my day interesting, I started bringing my camera along several weeks ago. Although I enjoy taking pictures, I'm by no means a photographer. The photos are more for recording something that caught my eye than for artistic expression. It is a really old camera. The batteries are taped in place, and I'm convinced that it's insides are not resistors and circuit boards but pulleys and levers. Perhaps a squirrel is involved. Regardless, it does the job of documenting my daily commute. Have a look.

Washington Square Park is surrounded by high-rise apartment buildings that make you dizzy if you look at them for too long.

The blueprint sign is in blue print. Clever, no?

Graffiti and the weather seem to be two of the biggest variables for the commute. New tags and paste ups appear every day if you look for them.

Ol' George Washington stands guard at an eternal flame in the square that bears his name.

The great thing about a city with so much physical history is that you never know who might have used the same set of steps that you are walking up. It could have been Ben Franklin or an 18th century homeless guy. Steps don't care who you are.

On to part two of the walk, click here