Late Summer

The summer is fading.

It seems I have spent my summers indoors of late, due to the constraints of school and board exams.

But I do remember the summertime.

 Mostly I remember the heat, the punishment from an unrelenting sun.

I remember it not mattering.

In those days, I would rise early, stay out late into the hot afternoon, peering under every shrub and across every flower. I sought the strange, the wonderful, the mundane walks of life that crawled and crept across the vegetation and hummed through the air.
I did this alone.
A stranger in my own land, I was not moved by the rushing beat of city life. Instead, I retreated to the besieged wild spaces, to learn, to document, and to find my peace. I collected image after image, of birds, insects, flowers, anything. They stayed hidden in folders on my desktop.

(where they remain.)

We live in a world that can be overwhelming. The vast, churning wildness of tides both human and animal inclines us to pull back, disengage, lest we be consumed. This fear, this unwillingness to risk upsetting our own fragile lives, silences us. And, to escape the uncomfortable truth, we convince ourselves that no one will listen if we speak, anyway.
This is not a productive line of thought.

Look at yourself.

You are powerful.

You have the ability to influence the world - but you can't, if you silence yourself.

Images, text, speech, actions, all of these things can work to effect change. There's no reason, and no excuse, to leave the fate of your world up to others.

So, will you engage? Do you view photography as a medium for communication? Discuss.

Regular, photography-related posting should resume next Friday. Please remember to share, follow, and subscribe via the fancy sidebar options! Here is my tumblr and here I am on bloglovin.