JL Summa

Time Will Tell

2023-02-122023-02-12meme, photographyLeave a Comment

Memento mori

2022-05-152023-02-12meme, photographyLeave a Comment

Follow the sun

2021-10-092022-01-10photographyLeave a Comment

Each autumn, I observe the light becoming shorter in the North, and I have fleeting thoughts of packing up and going South, to follow the sun. This set marks 12 years since my travels in South America, exploring the Andes and the Amazon, attempting to capture the beauty, stone, and human achievement.

Photographed in 2009-2010

Sundial memes (continued)

2021-01-282021-01-29meme, photographyLeave a Comment

Today I revisit the wisdom of sundial mottos. (See previous: Sundial memes) The process of linking mottos with images is satisfying, so I made a few more. The words stay with me. In particular, the Latin Mox nox, translated to English as Night, shortly or Soon comes night, is my favorite.

This axiom seems ominous, but I have come to see it as a practical exhortation. Life is fragile. What is there to do but revel in the here and now? It is all that we have. Tempus fugit.

The above image is what you get when you run a wood mill over a pile of ashes. That’s all there is. Remembrance of mortality helps me find a place of acceptance and peace.

Sunlight slowly fading over the ocean gives pronounced finality to the day. But not all sundial mottos refer to the abyss; some offer a note of vitality. This is a reminder that we are always moving: Vita in motu.

Requiesce in pace, P.S. 1924-2021

Thoroughfare

2021-01-162022-01-10photographyLeave a Comment

In late September, years ago, I visited a gem of public lands: Lake Easton. The subtle hum from the nearby interstate is part of the strange ambiance here, joining the deep, rhythmic rumble of the BNSF locomotives that frequently roll through the glacial valley. As I have harbored a love for the mystique of transcontinental freight trains since childhood, the area enchanted me. It is a place of continuous movement, whether water flowing through rivers and dams, motorists passing by, engineers urging on their cargo, or hikers, cyclists, equestrians, and kayakers finding their way through the state park and rails-to-trails. In early autumn, the summer crowds are gone and conditions are ideal in this convergence on shimmering waters.