Moving in to the dog days.

Greetings from Denver, on the edge of the Intermountain West. To absolutely no one’s surprise, it is sunny.

Just like that, summer is drawing to a close. The weather has been more kind to us this year than we deserve, the number of days above 100f has been far less than usual, and there has been rain. Glorious rain.

I’ve missed some of my goals for the summer, but for every disappointment there has been a something better to offset it.

I’ve barely gotten out of town this year. Work, both mine and my wife’s, has kept us close to home. It looks like this won’t change until fall, at the earliest.

I haven’t had my cameras in my hands as often as I should have, nor as often as I want to. But I am changing the way I am thinking of things. I’m formulating some changes and it’s nearly time to get out and field test them.

Some time back I mentioned Andrey Tarkovsky’s book Sculpting in Time. I’ve read through a translation of it and it is full of perfect ideas. I am woefully under-educated in the arts, and I always love finding things that are new to me. He really was a master of film. So many of his ideas translate to still photography as well. I think we all have much to learn from the motion picture side of the house.

I’m making some deliberate purchases and building new tools to use. I’m formulating new approaches and branching in to new types of work. Shooting less and thinking more. Here’s hoping this process addresses some serious defects I see in my work.

In the mean time, I have resumed scribbling in fine journals with my Lamy 2000. I’m making craft cocktails at home, although I still like going out for them. If Death & Co makes a bad drink, I have not found it yet. My development backlog, scanning, and video creation storyboards are in the back of my mind, but waiting for the new plan. I’m swapping out tires, tubes, and petals on my gravel bike for new adventures.

And I have been the recipient of undeserved gifts of wisdom and a print from the GOAT himself, Craig Pindell. If you have never seen his work in person, the internet does it no justice. Plus, he shared insight on his process for his 9/11 series. It always opens my mind to see how someone else approaches their work.

Soon, the leaves will change and I will put many miles under several types of wheels. I can already feel the clear, crisp air of winter in my lungs. I haven’t thought of the dog days of summer as a time of change in a long time, here’s hoping the changes are for the better.