February is drawing to an end up here in Minnesota, which also means that the first snow fell about 5 months ago and there is at least one more month of it (possibly two). True, I do have the advantage of traveling quite a bit, but it wasn’t always so. For many years I lived through months of snow and cold without the luxury of escaping it. How did I feel about winter then? As surprising as it may sound, it seemed easier then. Maybe you get ‘used to your misery’ when you don’t know anything better. Maybe, as I am getting older, my patience for discomfort is getting shorter. I only have 3 weeks between trips at the most, but winter this year has been particularly brutal.
As a photographer, it’s so important not to let the weather get in the way of your creativity. Even at extreme temperatures, when the camera will stop working in about as many seconds as it will take you to get frostbites, you still need to do your daily ‘visual push-ups’.
As you know, I’ve been working on The Artist & The Space, that it’s been a life saver this winter when I’m not traveling to teach workshops (more about that on this post). But I can’t possibly photograph an artist everyday! So I take my camera everywhere else I go: Coffee shops, restaurants, museums, friends’ houses, etc. I’m not going to make my finest work on those days, but I am practicing seeing, and I am learning and growing.
And I can tell you one thing: Spring is so much sweeter when you dig out from under months of snow. You never take the sound of water running or a bird chirping for granted again. And it’s a beautiful feeling!
Note: Haha! Looking back at February last year, and I wrote this post. I guess it’s the month for reflection ;)