Inspiration: Flea Market
Whenever I lose my cool (though I’m not even sure I have any), or I just need something to put in front of my lens, there’s a couple of places that are pretty much a safe bet to get you something. Especially when the working part of the week mainly consists of the same procedures every day, it’s nice to have some places you can come back to, where you can maybe find some inspiration, a reason to press the release button.
That’s what this series is going to be about. Join in if you like, I’m always keen to hear where others get their inspiration from. Post something on your blog and tell the rest of us about it. Sure, it’s a broad topic, but there’s some patterns I recognize in my photos and the things I like to come back to, so I’ll just post about them. I’m sure there’s other people out there who find similar patterns in their photos.
Let’s start with something so nice and obvious, it’s just meant to be, the flea market. Now, I don’t buy a lot of things on flea markets. The ones in Berlin tend to be way overpriced, and some sellers set their initial prices so high that it’s not even worth haggling. There’s a big one near Mauerpark in Berlin where they’re selling cheap plastic Polaroid cameras for 20 EUR, amongst lots of other things obviously. Not great, but tourists love to buy them anyway.
The great thing about flea markets is that there’s usually something new every time you go there. New sellers selling new old crap, arranging their products differently and whatnot. While I’m not a big buyer myself I do like walking across flea markets from time to time just to look at things, to take pictures of things.
We’re lucky to have a flea market right around the corner from our apartment, even though it’s not the best. It’s still some sort of inspiration for the photographer in me. I’ve taken several cameras out to the flea market already, and it’s always fun with the quirks of every single one and the stuff that’s new on the flea market. If you have one in your city, head on over there, and don’t forget to bring a camera!
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