The Beauty Is Still There

It’s just closer

It happens every year. At some point in October or, if we’re lucky, November, the jet stream that carries moisture off the Pacific toward the North American continent shifts its way southward and we begin to experience the great darkening.

The clouds hang so low they eat the rooftops.

Rain and wind lash the house, making it a ship at sea.

The light dims so intensely that you worry for the sun.

That stereotype people have of Seattle, that it “rains all the time”? Well, in November and December, it’s true. Those distant views of the mountains and the oceans disappear. The endless days of summer seem a distant memory. The rains close in, and with it the horizon.

Each of us decides how we’ll deal with the darkening. Some elect to stay inside from November to February, reading and drinking coffee. Some decamp to sunnier climes. I get that impulse … but I like being outdoors too much. So I can’t climb up high and dig the distance expanses. So what? I know there’s still beauty close in, in the darkness. So I go for a walk.

All of these images were shot with my Nikon D7500 as I walked at the Redmond Watershed Preserve between 10 and 11 in the morning on November 2. I wanted to capture the sense of the woods that I felt, the beauty despite the darkness.

As I’ve considered how best to use photos in my “By the Side of the Road” series, I’ve been struck by the inadequacy of many of my photographs, so I’m working to better capture how a scene feels to me, in pictures and in words. As always, I welcome your comments.