It seems like a hallmark of aging to say “How is the year already half gone?”.
Yet here we are again.
Did you ever notice that, when we were children, it took FOREVER for Christmas to arrive, for summer to arrive….?
But as adults it’s like “Oh shit…we are here already, again?”
Is it that we have more on our plates, take on more responsibilities, have more to stress about accomplishing/finishing? Is it that we are realizing that there are fewer days ahead than behind and looking at the 50 books on the shelf that we still haven’t read as we continue to buy more and add them to the groaning shelves?
Is it all that and the fact that we forget to see the things around us, changing and shifting? We miss the flower buds, and the swelling blooms and then, suddenly it seems, the rhododendrons are in full bloom and the flowers are starting to fall, but we missed them coming into bloom.
I felt all of that this year. And I realized, when I saw the rhododendrons all in full bloom, that when I put the camera down I also stop looking as closely at the world.
When I started doing 365 projects years ago, I put so much pressure on myself to come up with novel images, processed as perfectly as I could. In other words, my creative outlet became a monkey on my back. So I quit….a few times. I quit again at the end of 2023 and told myself I’d pick up the camera for the sake of it.
And I barely did. I have a ridiculous amount of money invested in camera equipment and whenever I drop the project challenges I forget to pick up the cameras. The habit becomes broken, and I stop seeing the world around me. I also stop blathering on about random things, and I lose my digital image-wordy ‘journal’. The passing of time becomes a bit lost.
And so eventually I start again.
How many times have I done this?
I’ve lost count.
But here we go again ….. time to pick up the daily habit again and remind myself to see the world around me, to spend a bit of time enjoying words, to use all of that fun equipment I have so lovingly collected over the past few decades, and to relocate that creative outlet that I’ve gravitated to for so many years.
Did I take a photo of the beautiful ground orchid currently blooming today?
No, I did not.
Why?
Because I don’t really want my first in this new series to be a flower shot.
Why?
I don’t have any good reason.
Did I take a photo of a Canada flag for Canada Day?
No, I did not.
Why?
See answer above to previous “why”.
Somehow a pair of refreshing Strongbow ciders feels more appropriate on a warm summer Canada Day, and speaks to the leisurely day we enjoyed, and I took it with my really fun Lensbaby Sol lens.
So….Cheers!
And here we go again.
Oh, but I did take a couple of other shots today down at the Canada Day celebrations. I probably wouldn’t have taken he group shot of the pipers, but a woman in the band came over to me and said something along the lines of “Since you have a real camera, would you mind taking a group shot and emailing it to me?” I’m not typically a ‘taking photos of humans’ sort, but since asked, I could hardly decline.
And a couple of random waterfront shots for good measure….
Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦