This autumn is gorgeous with glorious colors and crispy cool breezes. I’ve been extremely busy with teaching and teacher training, but I’ve enjoyed doing all that because of the good feedback that I have got, and also because enjoying the autumn has given me lots of new energy. Coming back to our new house after a full day and waking up early to start another busy day in this beautiful environment makes it easy to tackle new challenges. The mornings around here are so beautiful with the sun rising in the misty fields or from behind the tall pines in on the cliffs. Unfortunately there is never time for taking photos when I’m on my way to work and during the weekends I really appreciate the opportunity to sleep in. Every time there is a glorious mist on the field by the bus stop where I stand in the morning I wish I had the day off, but before I have a chance to finish off that thought I realize that I would still be sleeping if I didn’t have to go to work. But I have learned to let it pass. Sometimes it is enough just to enjoy what you see, not having to feel the need to capture it. And watching the humid air change its form in the sparking light gives me all the energy I need for that day.
Today I had a day off, I slept in and then took my boys to a hike in the forest. Two weeks ago I was hiking with my friends around the Lake Kukul about an hour’s drive east from here and we saw thousands of beautiful edible mushrooms all around the forest, so I thought maybe we could try to find some around here and cook them for dinner. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any edible ones anymore, I guess there had been others before us with the same thought… Nevertheless it was a great hike and I had a chance to take many photos. I bought a new camera last summer and I’ve really enjoyed these rare opportunities to explore the new scope of images I can create with it. You can find my Lake Kukul pictures in Flickr starting from ‘Two‘ and ending with the ‘the Three Who Left‘. Some of today’s pictures you can see on this page, but there are many more that I will be uploading next week.
We’ve been promised another warm week next week, so no frosty mornings in sight yet. But I don’t mind, there will be plenty of those later. It is going to be an exciting winter, with the new surroundings and the new camera, but also with some new career prospects that seem to be lurking behind my shoulder. I’ve been asked to do more teacher training and there have also been some enquiries about my creative work. Staying put is not my cup of tea, so I’m really excited to see where this all will take me. After all, there is always the option for me to click my heals and say ‘there’s no place like home’, if it all starts to feel too much.
“Sometimes it is enough just to enjoy what you see, not having to feel the need to capture it.”
Annika, I think this is very important as hardly anything we really see is captured anyway, in particular when we enjoy what we see. But those things show in what you eventually capture, no matter what it is. Your photography proves this very well, with its most beautiful simplicity. So I would say often is is enough just to enjoy what you see, maybe even mostly.
Excellent post.
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Autumn is a gorgeous season. I find it’s the season where you gather your thoughts and shed the old, tired ones.
All the best with the teacher training and creative work! Wonderful opportunities are there to be grabbed with both hands :))
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Gorgeous indeed. Love all of them.
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Excellent post and photos, annika. I often feel this with words and sometimes just breathe it in instead.
“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” ~Ansel Adams
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Thank you so much for the kind comments everyone, really appreciate you stopping by and reading my post! Hope you’re having a wonderful autumn, except you Annie G.: for you I wish a beautiful spring! 🙂
Jonahh – I am truly grateful and humbled for your words. Thank you so much.
Annie I LOVE that Ansel Adams quote!!!
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We tend to want to enrich our memory, because in the end, that’s what stays with us. The original impression fades.
However, value is based on scarcity. Somehow gorgeous sights are cheapened when we are flooded with them. My system can’t take that much emotional response as would be adequate to the many beautiful photographs online. I noticed that my taste in images shifted towards sparse motifs.
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Hi Irma, thanks for stopping by! I agree with you. I seem to look into sparse motifs as well, and many of those move me with their honesty. Thank you for leaving me such a thoughtful response. Have a great week!
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