Summer Malaise

A slow season, a sofa, and a reminder to just show up.

It’s 5 a.m. on a Sunday and I’m slumped on the sofa, scrolling through YouTube.
The sun’s about to come up and I’m already making excuses not to head to the woods: it’s not foggy, it’ll be too hot, maybe later…

We’re in the middle of an unseasonably hot August and it feels like I haven’t been out in months. Honestly, that’s not far from the truth, the last decent images I made in the woods were back in April.

Summer is usually a slower time for landscape photographers, but this year has felt even quieter. Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s my reluctance to keep repeating the same old shots. Probably both.

I half-expected this to be another Sunday where I’d berate myself for staying in. But at 8 a.m. the clouds rolled over, the temperature dropped, and I finally got off the sofa and out the door.

And you know what? It was great. I’d forgotten how much I love wandering through the woods, just looking for compositions. The conditions weren’t perfect, but that didn’t matter, it just felt good to be out there again.

I wasn’t chasing perfection this time, just reconnecting with the act itself. Not every walk with the camera has to produce a portfolio shot, and that’s something I keep needing to remind myself.

By the time I came home, I didn’t have a masterpiece, but I did have a sense of momentum again, and that’s enough. Autumn is on the horizon, and I want to be ready for it.

So yes, summer might have slowed me down, but it hasn’t stopped me. The woods are still there, waiting.

Until next time
—Rick—