It’s the dark time of year. I’ve got few opportunities to photograph, leaving and arriving the house most days in the dark, and even less motivation. A couple more weeks until the solstice and then we’ll turn the corner on daylight. A couple more weeks and maybe I’ll turn the corner on this malaise that’s come upon me.
I think I get this feeling every year, in December. This melancholy. This desire to check out of normal life and curl up inside myself for a little while. To go dark.
Does this happen to you?
I came across this article on Brain Pickings, about how melancholy is good for creativity. Maria Popova, the article author writes:
… I am also of the firm conviction that access to the full spectrum of human experience and the whole psychoemotional range of our inner lives — high and low, light and darkness — is what makes us complete individuals and enables us to create rich, dimensional, meaningful work.
I believe this too. So I’m allowing myself the dark time, knowing that the light will come again.
It does every year, without fail.
I think there is definitely something about this time of year . . . the drab greyness of it all seems to seep in to all corners and weight us down. You are not alone!
It’s good to know I’m not alone in this feeling!
Dark or not, from wherever place this image comes, I like it. There is something very compelling about the bare branches offset against that deeply colored background. Beautiful work.
Thanks Brenda. I find it interesting how some good always comes out of the dark times, like this piece.
When the sun is out on these short days, it’s always low in the sky. Spent Sunday mid-day in Santa Fe, NM and was able to get nice images.
Yeah, winter sun is definitely different than summer sun. Lucky you, getting some sunshine!