seasons

Autumn Textures

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I’m tired. We’re all tired.

I’m searching for some serenity in all this chaos. Luckily, we have had a pleasant autumn so far, and we take evening walks to shake off the dread and anxiety.

Now daylight savings has changed the light, and we wake up in the sunshine. It’s good, and much-needed, because the sun won’t be around much from now until spring. I’m trying to capture it as much as possible before the darkness comes. 

School has shut down in-person learning until after Thanksgiving. COVID-19 is spreading as usual. The election is over and yet not over. 

So very tired. 

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Shoot for the Moon

“If you adopt that notion of linear progress, if you expect that your life will just be one straight rocketship to the moon, you will be so disappointed and disoriented when you fall off course, when a tank explodes, when the moon moves and it turns out to not be where you plotted.” – Austin Kleon, in a great Twitter thread.

Amen. I think about how, as we settle into winter, I take fewer photos this time of year. It happens every January, and I know this slow, quiet season is coming.

The thing is: do you accept the season, or try to rebel? Often I’ll pick up a different creative project in the winter – photographer interviews, say – and when spring blooms, I get started on photography projects in earnest. Summer, with it’s light and long days, provides more opportunities to make actual photographs. Toward autumn, I fall in love with the weather and the landscape and the light, and create some of my favorite work.

What am I up to? Depends on the time of year.

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Autumn Out Back

My co-workers thought I was crazy.

“I’m heading to the woods,” I said after lunch. “If I’m not back in a while, it’s been nice working with you all.”

The woods, they asked? Why?

Because. It’s right out back. At work, our headquarters sits in the middle of a beautiful, hilly forest, with little ponds and lakes all around us. I’ve been dying to get into those woods and explore – dying to get out and shoot, period.

No, the weather wasn’t nice, and no, the light wasn’t perfect. But if felt good to get out and tromp through the fallen leaves on a cool autumn day.

Then my Canon battery died, so I had to rely on my iPhone. Not that that matters.

I made it back by lunch hour’s end, a little wet and a lot refreshed.

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For Every Season

Thoughts That Steer Us

Matt Thomas has great things to say about accepting and adjusting to seasons:

More and more, I try to live in harmony with the seasons, not the clock.

Here in the Midwest, we’re experts at seasons. And I definitely pick projects and to-do items that reflect the time of year. Winter? Get outside and shovel, and a few photographer interviews. Spring? Yard work and thinking ahead to summer projects. Fall? Finish up projects, enjoy a shit ton of apple cider, try roasting some acorns, etc.

Maybe I’m a creature of habit, but the seasonal routines are very comforting for me.

Start the crockpots full of chili, folks. It’s autumn.

(via Austin Kleon)

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Summer’s End

 

Stand in the Disenchanted Field

August in Michigan means hot days, cooler mornings, and a slow dive into autumn.

For me, it’s always the seasonal transitions that are the most fun to photograph. Summer is nice, sure, but the end of summer always holds something special.

Same for when spring (my favorite) comes, and the fog rolls in as the snow melts. Or when winter starts frosting the yet-to-fall leaves.

This time of year is always hard for me emotionally, for some reason. I don’t know if it’s because Winter Is Coming™, or the days are shortening, or what. But I get to feeling down. The last few years, I’ve tried to work my way out of the funk with a few photo projects and writing more.

For this season, I hope to do the same.

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Better In the In-Between

Better In the In-Between

Big transitions in my life the past year or so: the birth of my daughter, a new job, getting ready to sell our house and move into the city.

So it is with the seasons as well. The temperatures here in Michigan are dropping steadily, the leaves are changing, pumpkins are popping up at roadside stands. Autumn is in the air.

Much like last year, I’m trying to stay on top of all the transitions and stay involved with creative projects. It’s tough. And I’m not working on anything specific now, but I have some ideas and plans brewing.

Here’s to the in-between.

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Make It Last

Seventy degrees and sunny – just give me that.

I wait all year for May days. Those warm, sunny, apple-blossom-scented days with a gentle breeze and the birds chirping. After a cold, bitter winter in Michigan, it’s these kinds of days in May that keep us all sane. Gives us something to look forward to.

The problem this year is that the tree blossoms won’t last long, with the wind and the rain. Us and the bees – we have a short window of springtime opportunity.

So make it last.

Make it last and give us a bit of the warm, pleasant days before the grogginess of summer. Before our modest humidity takes hold, and people start turning on their air conditioners.

Give us a few days of short-sleeves-and-pants weather, where we won’t be all sticky by sundown. Where we can warm up in the sun, and cool off with the breeze.

Let that scent linger, just a little bit, and fill our nose with memories and hope. Give the bees something to be busy with.

Make it last.

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