Jonathan Pupo

Last year, my brother moved to Denton, Texas and the original photo was taken while we were exploring the city and was taken in an area that is called Denton Square. The mural caught my eye because it was the first thing you saw when exiting the Recycled Books, Records, & CDs store which moved into the historic Wright Opera House which has been there since 1900.

When cropping the original image, I aimed to emphasize the focal point of the mural by narrowing the frame onto the man and woman displayed at the center of the mural, following the rule of thirds. With the cropped image, I was able to remove unnecessary details like the cars surrounding the mural and the empty sky above it. This helped simplify the background to draw more attention to the artwork itself which is the reason I took the picture.

When I came across this image on openverse, I felt it had a deeper meaning that we could all relate to in some way. As I grow older, I have started to realize the uncertainty of the future and this image perfectly illustrates how every day we are all walking towards the unknown. Why? Because the possibility of growth, new beginnings, and everything else that comes with it gives us the courage to continue walking towards it. With the help of the soft guitar, it creates a calm feeling to the tense and scary idea of the future portrayed by the image. The combination of the image with the audio gives us a realistic view of life and how moving forward is a natural part of it, even though we each experience it in different ways. At the end of the day, I guess that means we’re all just figuring it all out one step at a time.

Terms of Use: “Walking Towards the Unknown” by Jonathan Pupo is licensed under CC BY 4.0.