Pixiq

Earlier this year I spent a week documenting the story of my good friend Odette as she reunited with her two daughters from Rwanda after four long years of separation. Several days after the girls landed, Odette was eager to immerse them in American culture. Introducing them to the significant sights in Washington D.C. (within driving distance from their new apartment home) made the list of to-do's, so off we went.

Now, I must admit photographing significant sights holds little interest for me. But I'm attracted to people, and I'm intrigued by the ways in which people consume new experiences. The image potential of this appealled to me enough to haul my SLR with a thick 14-24mm lens up the tall expanse of stone steps to the Lincoln Memorial that wet May day.

Not surprisingly, I found the mosting interesting images when I turned my back on "the shot" of President Lincoln, and focused my lens in the opposite direction. When you see everyone shooting in one direction, it's usually a sign that there's something else that needs to be seen. I would have missed Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" quote in the image above, had I not shifted my perspective. So the next time you find yourself standing before a significant sight, don't forget to turn around and shoot backwards.