Dockside

Summer has passed, and the dock has quieted down. There is no one here now. Just the boards, the ladder, and the water moving beside them.

I like the way the dock takes up so much of the photograph. The boards are solid and warm in the light, while the water behind them keeps moving. The ladder is there for someone to enter or leave the water, but at this moment it isn’t being used. The place has gone still for a while.

My own work has quiet stretches too. I sometimes work for a while and then don’t post anything. Time passes. My mood changes. Sometimes I don’t even turn on my computer for days on end. I don’t feel like it. I don’t have any motivation. I start to think my photography is stale, that it isn’t good enough, that I should be doing something more with it.

It’s hard to know what to do with those thoughts. I can try to make myself sit down and work, but sometimes I just don’t want to. I have spent years looking at photographs, reading, taking pictures, and trying to understand what it is I’m drawn to. Even now; I can lose confidence in the work and wonder if I have anything left to say.

Then, after a while, I return. The work comes back in a flurry: photographs, posts, articles, blog posts. One image leads me to another. I start looking again, and the things around me seem worth photographing. I don’t always know what has changed and don’t worry about it. Maybe I have simply had enough time away. Maybe the interest was there all along, waiting for me to notice it again.

This photograph is called dockside. It reminds me that places have their seasons, and so do I. The dock is still here, even when the summer activity has gone. I suppose my work is still here too, even when I’m not making or sharing anything.

I don’t have a neat lesson to take from that. I’m trying not to judge the quiet periods too quickly or decide they mean something is over. Like many artists; sometimes I need time. Sometimes I need to return to the work in my own way; whatever that way maybe.

For now, I’m back. I’m looking again and have things to accomplish.

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