And tonight…I write by candlelight…
So yeah, the power on the trailer went out so I’m left with a few candles and just enough charge to offload today’s photos and jot down today’s haps, so, again, I’ll try to keep it as short and sweet as I can and hopefully let some of the images do the talking…
I must say, waking up to a symphony of birds singing, mist evaporating, and the soft golden sunlight beaming through decades old redwoods, bouncing poetically across wildflowers outside your window…does. not. suck.
I’m not an early riser…at ALL, but when I peeked out the trailer window at first light, I fought the urge to stay in bed and jumped outside to spend a few minutes snapping a bit of the magic. Yeah, I hadn’t had my coffee just yet, so they eyes pressed up against that viewfinder were still a bit foggy…but, hey, what better way to capture the essence of first light than through the eyes of a coffee addicted someone that…well…rolled out of bed directly into first light, walking across the meadows as the grasshoppers scattered and the bumblebees paid no mind, too busy feasting on the flora.
Anyhow, so it was time to walk over to the A-frame and see if I might snap a few shots. After all, that’s what I was here for right? The light was almost directly overhead, but the clouds more than made up for it. Crazy puffy spotted clouds on a perfect blue sky just above the cabin, so we moved all the tools out of the way and I kinda went trigger happy.
When I looked out in the meadow and saw something I had to run out for…I won’t even say anything, but nature has a funny way of displaying an eerie synchronicity in ways you could never imagine. I mean…those rocks…that cloud…really!!??
Towards the end of the day, as last light began to fall, we had all just decided to head down to Jones’ Store for hamburgers to ring in Independence Day, so after sweating our way through several hours of shooting the home, we jumped in our respective showers to wash down and head down. My particular shower just happened to be an outdoor solar shower that, well, wasn’t connected to the solar panels yet, so…well…cold…but hot damn, just went with it…all part of the experience and all parts I’ll remember. It’s been a while since having a chance to let go like this, so figured I had to savor it. As I was pulling up my jeans, the horn honked outside, so I ran to the truck with belt and shoes in hand, jumped in, and not until about 90 seconds later did I realize that I forgot the camera…at last golden hour…in the Sierras. I forgot the camera. Golden hour. Sierras.
Forgot.
Camera.
Sierras.
Less than 4 seconds passed before I accepted it, embraced it, and said, oh well (after a few ‘I’m an idiot I’m an idiot’s escaped while the crew laughed at me)…
Anyhow, that was one thing that seemed to be indicative of something I couldn’t help but notice as the day progressed, the pressures and worries and thoughts and stresses of everyday life just kind of drifted away, and for the first time perhaps ever, I really haven’t fought it. I just kinda accepted it, embraced it, and let it go. Normally it would eat away at me for hours, perhaps days. The creature comforts that we’re so used to that can just be suddenly taken away from you…it can often feel like intense withdrawal from addiction, but perhaps that really is only attitude. Oh, powers out? That’s ok. I have candles. Oh, forgot my camera? Oh, ok, screw it, enjoy the moment, not everything has to be captured. After all, the fact remains, you’re eating a burger – on the 4th of July – as the sun sets – in the high Sierras. I mean…c’mon!
So yeah, those creature comforts really seem to be nothing but luxuries and addictions. Perhaps even vices. And it’s quite remarkable how easy it is to truly let go of something that just days before you figured you’d die if were taken away.
Anyhow, I’ll leave you with a few photos from interestingly charming Jones Store compound by iPhone…
And then a gallery of some of that first set of images.
For Part 3, the final installment of the Far Meadow series, click here.
And in case you missed Part 1 of this Far Meadow Photo Adventure, click here!
