I love people watching.
Wikipedia defines the practice as “… the act of observing people and their interactions, usually without their knowledge. It involves picking up on idiosyncrasies to try to guess at another person’s story. … For some people it is considered a hobby, but for many others it is a subconscious activity they partake in everyday without even realizing.”
People watching can be as simple as sitting quietly someplace, watching the world go by. In some realms, an advanced type of people watching can actually evolve to the level of scientific study, though there are a few differences.
Researchers observing a subject, be it human or animal, in its natural habitat, use naturalistic observation. While the best people watchers do try to not interfere with the people they’re watching, there is a difference.
People watching can tell you a lot about a population, a group or, sometimes, an individual. You can tell if they’re confident in themselves, if they’re shy, and much more.
There’s another aspect to people watching, too.
Street photography, where photographers walk the streets, sit on benches, relax in sidewalk cafes, and photograph people as they walk by. The photographs can be made for documentary purposes, looking at population and individuals to learn more about how a city or town works.
Or they can be made for artistic purposes. French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson is considered the master of candid, or street, photography. He pioneered the idea of capturing a “decisive moment” through his candid photography, where all the elements come together.
I, personally, find festivals, celebrations, anywhere people gather, to be perfect venues for both people watching and street photography. With that idea in the back of my mind, I spent this past weekend in Laramie and in Larkspur, Colo., attending the Colorado Renaissance Festival.
I walked around the historic downtown of Laramie, taking in what has to be one of the more interesting public arts projects I’ve ever seen. To me, in addition to finding, watching and photographing people on the street, I enjoy getting a feel for the atmosphere, the brick-and-mortar physicality, of the environment they inhabit.
Laramie sponsored artists to paint murals on buildings in its historic downtown. The murals depict a variety of scenes, mostly fanciful – from bicycle-riding trees to giant, multi-colored fish, to a mural of a man on a ladder painting a mural – which decorate street-side and back-alley walls.
It’s a refreshing embrace of the arts by a community, particularly at a time when funding for the arts is in danger of being cut. For the arts are important. Without the arts, what is there really to live for?
The second day of my trip was spent in the Elizabethan Era, at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. As much as I love people watching, I love renaissance faires and festivals. They’re one place where people watching abounds.
It was my first time at the Colorado festival, but not my first renaissance festival. And I must say, I was impressed. This is a good, fun festival.
For a long time, the festivals had a bad reputation on definitely not being family friendly, but no more. A renaissance, if you will, in the renaissance festival world changed all that, imposing strict rules and making them definite family entertainment.
From the food to the music to the characters – both performers and guests – the festival did not disappoint.
As some of you may have noticed, we’ve started a new feature in the Torrington Telegram, which we’re calling “Weekend Getaways.” The goal is to provide information about places you can go for anything from a day trip to a long weekend, just a chance to get away without breaking the bank.
I mention all this because, this Friday, the Weekend Getaway will be the Colorado Renaissance Festival. Future Getaways will include things to do in and around Casper as well as a visit to Laramie, Adams County and the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site.
So, enjoy these little snippets of information about places to go and see in the future, one probably every two weeks on a Friday.
