Nathaniel Rateliff- Oil and Lavender
Stroll is a nightly diary of my late night walks through my neighborhood, explored through my iPhone.
We recently moved to a new place, which shone a light on how bad our old place actually was– an uninspiring location, hot, loud, and with inconsiderate neighbors. Moving to this new location has been a breath of fresh air not just for my mental health, but my creative spirit as well.
Every evening since we’ve been here I have gone on a late night stroll through the neighborhood and photographed the scenes that I see with my iPhone. The two block walk takes me through a forested path in a park, past a church, down the street, and back to our place. Putting in my ear buds and slowly meandering along the way has become one of my favorite things to do and has been a breath of fresh air for me, in more ways than the literal sense.
Most nights I walk solo. Some nights I walk with my son, bonding along the way as we both take photographs and talk about photography and life. This walk helps me to build familiarity and a sense of home that I haven’t felt for a long time. As I walk, I revisit the same trees, the same lampposts, and the same bushes, and I watch how they change from day to day. Once the cooler weather hits, I will see them transform drastically.
=== HUDSON ===
Twice along my walks so far I have encountered a lost cat that I have named Hudson. He is one of the most loving cats that I’ve ever met and he follows me around the neighborhood, always demanding pets and love, and stretching out for them. He’s been a true light the nights that I see him and he feels like a friend. When he sees me, he runs over to me, rolls around on the ground for pets, and then walks with me, once all the way to our front door. I think that I have located his owners, and I’m in contact with them to help return him home to his lucky family.
As of this writing, I have seen Hudson twice and I now go out of my way when coming and going to see if I can bump into him again. All I know is that one day I will see Hudson for the last time.
But for now, I am so in love with him and the nights where I see him we spend significant amounts of time together and my night is made so much better with his company.
=== THE PHOTOS ===
Be forewarned, these photos have only ever been jpegs and they are not technically perfect. That’s not what these photos are about. They are about how I am building intimate familiarity with a fresh breath of life.
• I never photograph people and I never photograph residences. Only anonymous scenes during my two block walk and the courtyard of the nearby church.
• Some nights will have no photo due to travel or other circumstances. Some nights will have one photo. Some nights will have more than one.
• Aside from the first drop, I mint these the night that I take them. The easiest way to keep up to date with this drop is to follow me on social media, where I will also be posting these nightly, or subscribe to my wallet on Deca and/or Manifold.
• https://twitter.com/tjthorne_photo
• https://www.instagram.com/tjthorne_photography
• https://www.threads.net/@tjthorne_photography
• https://deca.art/TJThorne
• 0x6C0040BdA93e4Cf433c0aa8498bD624397aECe30,
• tjthorne.eth
• On the days I see Hudson, those photos will have a property noting that. Only a few photos will have this property.
• Some photos have been taken by my son. These photos are noted in the properties and 100% of any sale will go to a wallet that I am setting up for him as the beginning of his savings for his future.
I have so much work that I need to do, but right now this is the one creative outlet that I have in the sea of products, pricing, marketing, and more that comes with building a business. And it’s pure. I enjoy it. It excites me. And I want to share that with you.
Maybe one day I will tire of the walk. Or one day we might move. For whatever reason, there is an unknown time of conclusion of this series.
But for now, it’s filling me up.
