Cruising.

Mo Scarpelli - Columbia is, despite its stark advantages over my hometown in Michigan, still sometimes just a small boring town. On nights or afternoons where this really wears on me, I take pictures.
David LaBelle describes in his article the art of "Cruising" as a remedy for the photojournalists' form of writer's block. Sometimes it seems the world has NOTHING to offer in the way of news. It's then that the journalist needs to step outside of the box and find their own something - sometimes anything - that's unique, fun, silly, or beautiful.
In my experiences with cruising, I've found that I have a knack for finding beautiful things amidst places and people that don't seem to offer anything of the sort. Like LaBelle, I attribute this to being at the right time at the right moment, not to my extrordinary facilities as a photographer (I hardly know how to use my Rebel K2... I'm just now learning was aperture means!).
Once in awhile, I'll get my film back and find, maybe because it was in black in white, maybe because the lighting was just right (that's usually an accident, by the way)... but I have at least one amazing picture that I never expected. Sometimes beauty is in the simplicity, or the complexity or the awkwardness... sometimes it's obvious beauty, sometimes it's obviously ugly (and then beautiful later, on film)... photography will always be an exhilerating hobby for me because of the surprises I find in its results.
Cruising works, too. I don't always find my mannequin in an oversized tire (LaBelle's money shot one boring afternoon), but I come close plenty of times.
Give me a deadline, though, and it may be a different story.