[[Current status of the RVA Bus Stop Project]] As of August 20, 2025, the last image I made for this project was on May 11, 2025. That was the last time I stood at a bus stop, took a photo at a sign, and then made a fine art photograph from such a vantage point. I've made some photographs in the city that I think could be a part of this body of photographs, somehow, but to pick apart that idea we'd have to get into all sorts of questions about [[The Outer Limits of this Project]] and [[How Closely I Should Follow the Rules]]. ![[1476.jpg]] What actually happened which ground this project to a halt was that I went out to photograph and it went so badly that I think it killed all motivation to make images in this manner, perhaps permanently. The images you see interspersed here are the fruits of that outing, and as I surveyed the images, I saw pictures so deeply devoid of a voice. They lacked not only jollity and levity, but also any mild or discernible point of view. What's more, they're not even formal studies- the compositions themselves are quite uninteresting. ![[1477.jpg]] I broke one of [[Kurt Vonnegut's Writing Rules]] - don't waste people's time. I wasted my own time taking the pictures, but I would not feel comfortable asking another human to interact with these pictures in good faith, I don't believe they're worth anyone else's time, either. What's interesting now, though, as I look back over these photographs is to consider what underlying support structure was or was not there. After all, I'd taken bad photographs for this series in the past- why where these different? ![[3585.jpg]] To isolate the single missing factor which made these photographs so discouraging to review was the growing sense that, as I stacked up hundreds upon hundreds of images, passing well over 1,000 photographs, I realized that my meaning was not becoming clearer *inherently* by making more photographs. Without the aesthetic discipline to create a very tightly controlled aesthetic framework in which to play in, the mandate of "make whatever photograph seems interesting" began to crumble as I piled the weight of more images on top of it. ![[825.jpg]] After all, there is no meaningful way to hold one image up against 1,000 to determine if it meets that very vague criteria of "[[On Unique Images|unlike any other image I've made yet in this series]]" Unmoored from the mandate to make a "unique" image, my only reason for photographing at each individual bus stop became "because I said I would." Is that an interesting enough reason on its own? Could that sustain a willingness to give it my aesthetic best at *every single stop I went to?* The images attached to this writing are *mundane.* I did not peel back anything new by creating them, they were box-checking exercises. ![[737.jpg]] As soon as one loses a thread of mystery and intrigue, I believe it makes art a rather difficult undertaking. From there, such a project as this may be taken up into other worthwhile endeavors... As a means of exploring the city, something to do with my kids, as a reason (any reason) to pick up my camera. Even to write these reasons here makes it plausible to continue looking for bus stops. But art? As soon as art turns into a box-checking exercise, the thrill of discovery and innovation and creativity tends to evaporate. ![[3835.jpg]] Look above- indeed, this is *just* a curb, just an interesting pattern of cracks on the sidewalk. I got around to my own [[My Relationship with Instagram#^885f7d|sidewalk crack]] images in my own way here, yet, with the camera pointed straight down from an eye-level height, I realized that the concept is literally flattened. I have said nothing here, and it was slightly mortifying to view this photograph because I *knew* I said nothing. I've seen photographs of my own of the sidewalk that I think *might* say something, I know quite well this photograph is saying nothing. ![[3604.jpg]] I thought for many months about what to do or not do with these images. I [[Exhibited The Images at Remnant]] about a month before this shoot. Creating a curated set of images from this body of work made me realize that curation was probably going to be important in some way if this series could possibly land in any way. I clearly tried to take a few whacks at continuing to photograph, but adding to the undifferentiated mass of photographs got to be a rather crushing endeavor. What was the point, especially if the photos weren't good? ![[3605.jpg]] We land at this final photo, and when I made it, I think I knew I was probably don photographing for this series, at least for a long hiatus. I texted a few of the pictures to a photographer friend to get a vibe check, and he confirmed that they were indeed quite boring. Yeah. It's possible to treat this like an ending, but in a tale as non-linear as this, we will fold this back into this website as it stands now. I let the project sit and languish for many months. I opened the Lightroom catalog only once or twice between when I made the above photo and August. I didn't even import the above photos until this August, that's how little I cared about them. Yet, I'm thankful they're not lost. No, realizing the vast avalanche of images and writing I had accumulated in the course of creating this project, I realized that I needed to make some effort to air it out to the world. I would not let the images or the writing explode all at once, but I figured this very odd website could be an interesting format to try to get it out, bit by bit. So, here we are. — Written by Nick Seitz, August 20, 2025.