Old bridge ruins, Yadkin River
Ever go through up and down mood swings with your photography–boy I do! I sometimes mistakenly believe my intellectual, emotional and creative levels should remain constant when in fact they’re forever changing.
Nothing stands still. Take the scene in this photograph for example. There’s the stone column standing on the waters edge that’s the last remaining testimony of an older bridge now replaced and gone. One day this column too shall be washed away. There’s the water of the river, now somewhere far downstream, perhaps in a lake, a reservoir, a city water system or even the Atlantic Ocean. These leaves, a little less green now and by winter they will all be gone.
This exact photographic moment will never exist again, can never be exactly recreated–so it is with all photographs and so it is too with the photographer.
I’m learning to accept there’s moments of melancholy, of being unsure about what is yet to come. I’m learning to take advantage of these “down moments” to refocus on my personal vision and the positive things I want to guide me.
This is important, for change, like movement, isn’t predestined to always be forward.
I think we all go through mood swings with our photography. Mine is when it is raining and in the winter, I have to snap out of it and tell myself, the images are there just altered due to conditions, so drag your butt out and make some images.
Oh boy, does this one hit home. I have to constantly remind myself of these truths. It doesn’t seem to matter how well I know these things, I am always on the verge of forgetting the lessons. The photo is an ideal accompaniment to your thoughts with all the elements balancing so beautifully.
@Don: Use to be I would rail against the melancholy but lately I’ve found it works better to accept it and use the time to access where I’m at and where I’d like to go from here, both in photography and other areas. Usually once I’ve gotten a goal back in sight the melancholy fades quickly.
@Anita: I think that’s the reason I keep doing similar post on this same subject–to keep reminding myself! :-)
Amen to that. It is one of my favorite strategies. Maybe if I contine to remind myself (along with help from folks such as yourself), these things will eventually fully sink in. I filled with hope.