Winter’s Impact
By Michael Erlewine
In winter, I can get a little ‘stir crazy’ and retreat into my tiny photo studio and do that. It’s not that I go outside as much in the summer as I like air and having all the windows open. And so, I’m getting ready for winter.
This year I’m gearing up a little on my photography and have decided, on my own, that a ‘picture is worth a thousand words’. And they are.
As hard as I work as a word-smith, a simple photograph says more if I take my time. And we can’t beat Shakespeare for his take on dharma, especially with his sonnets, like Sonnet 2.
WHEN FORTY WINTERS SHALL BESIEGE THY BROW
“When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,
Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tattered weed, of small worth held.
Then being asked where all thy beauty lies —
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days —
To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes
Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserved thy beauty’s use
If thou couldst answer “This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse”,
Proving his beauty by succession thine.”
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.”
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Only, here I would substitute when “83 winters shall besiege my brow…” and then add … “This fair photo of mine, shall sum my count and make my old excuse.” That’s how I feel about photography.
Of course, close-up photography was how I experienced Insight Meditation as it first came into my life. What a marvel that was! It took me almost a year to realize what happened to me, for the actual realization to set in and be named.
And so, I can’t help but have a special fondness for photography, and I drift back into it every once in a while. Right now, I’m drifting and looking to take my photography to task and to kick it up a notch as well, if I can.
And so, these wintry days that are coming on, like the windy snow that blows here today, are enough to send me up the steep staircase and into my photo sanctuary. I’m also growing some collards up in that area, and the three large pots I have planted have sprouted.
I’m puttering around up there, creating more space where there is none and getting some extra lights set to compliment the skylight and two south-facing windows. I plan to also work in the early dawn when there is not enough light yet to see by.
And we know that in just a few days, the Sun will reach the Winter Solstice and begin to move north again. And I with it, already looking for spring. Getting through the winter as we age gets tougher every year, yet it each year also passes more quickly.
And I pray to be on to the next thing to do, rather than to the next thing I eat. LOL.
[Photo by me these days.]
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