If You Lived In Denver...Section 4 - Highland

I have to admit, the Highland is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Denver.  If you’re walking or riding a bike from downtown it is only a small bridge or three away.  It combines a good urban vibe with a quiet neighborhood feel.  There is always a good place to eat, a good place to drink, and a good place to be.  It may be upscale but it is also down to earth.  I read some Denver blogs and other resources about urban sustainability and I always think about the Highlands when I read about such ideas.  The model community always addresses cozy living, neighborhood markets, new places to eat around the corner, and easy access to work or transportation.  I’ve been through so many times and just the other day I went to a deli I have seen time and time again and had one of the best sandwiches of my life.

Trying to adequately describe a neighborhood, especially like this, with words will only ever fall short.  I am fortunate enough to be able to convey my love for this neighborhood through the lens of my friend Jennifer.  She occasionally describes aspects of her photography as taking the context out of a subject.  When we discussed this photographic journey we were embarking on, I wanted to make sure she got more photographs in context.  I wanted the entire feel of the different neighborhoods, not just individual pieces.  I wanted to show the whole of a neighborhood. I am realizing, for the Highland, feeling is more important.  To take the individual photographs out of context may be best.  Each piece is a patchwork of the quilt.  Each corner is an idea of the whole.  To take a picture down a street or a shot of the neighborhood couldn’t explain the essence of the community I’m so inadequately describing with words.  I want to convey emotion out of context.  The neighborhood isn’t about the place; it’s about the feeling.  Maybe it’s only my feeling.  This is what I’m trying to describe to you about Denver.  Every street corner is somewhere great to live, somewhere delectable to eat, a place that I want to be.  Highland shows the highs and the lows.  It shows the living and breathing. It is residential.  It is urban.  It’s old.  It’s new.

This is the Highland.  This is Denver.