It's been a while since I was able to spend a morning making images alone. I enjoy the
opportunity to focus on something that I enjoy so much, to practice my craft and in the
end have something tangible that I am happy with. Something that now has a place, that
didn't exist this morning.
I was fortunate enough to inherit my father's pickup truck this summer, and it finally feels
like mine. I think of him every time I use it, it still smells slightly of his cigarette
smoke. He was always eager to help me in any way that he could, and the use of a new
truck is a blessing beyond words. Thanks dad.
The day was forecast to reach 90 degrees but as I was out early, and I had the shade of two
large trees covered in the ubiquitous southern Kudzu plant, I stayed cool. The morning
sun made my long shot images of the pond impractical as the exposures were so
unbalanced. With collodion nearly 4 months old, the contrast would have been too high.
So, I shot close, waiting for another shady evening to return for the big landscapes.
It's been a rough summer personally. The last two years have been rough really. I have had
a hard time finding the inspiration to work again, it seems being creative dries sometimes
like a wild stream that once flowed sweet and true, and has dwindled to a dry bed. That
stream will likely flow again as will my inspiration, it's just hard waiting. It seems like I'm
always waiting for something.
“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.”
So, in the end I made two images that I am pleased with. and that is pretty good! I have
two images that did not exist this morning! New expressions of the way that I see the
world when I slow down and look.
“In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my
pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement,
and I will go on with my drawing.”