The contrast between dark and light in the North, from the short dark days to the everlasting summer light, why it is so difficult for me to adjust in the winter to summer transition and why walking in the forest is always the solution ...
Mossy forest in Kopparberg, Sweden
Light is definitely here … Dazzling … Maybe too dazzling for me …
After 6 months of immersion in the dark all this light all at once feels almost like an aggression!
In a while here in the North the daylight will last longer and longer until eventually you’ll get only a few hours of dark…
It is a huge contrast with the lightless winter and its short days.
Everything starts getting exposed and cheeky, mystery and magic disappear …
I need to adjust, gradually, and accept that light will be with us for a while now.
I’m still not ready, somehow it upsets me, it makes it more difficult for me to focus.
It agitates me, like I am forced to do something, like everything is now in movement and resting time is over ... Everything needs to get back on "activate mode"...
Not sure why but it definitely takes me sometime to adapt to the new reality and actually enjoy it.
Maybe there’s someone there feeling the same? Is there someone out there who like me has a harder time adjusting to the winter to summer transition rather than the opposite?
Also and above all under a photographic point of view I need to adapt. Prepare myself to wake up much earlier in the morning and going out definitely later in the evening to avoid the harsh light and find some atmosphere .... I honestly think that direct light in photography is overrated!
As usual, I find shelter in the shady forests that are also waking up, but with no rush, taking their time as it always happen in nature. Everything has its right pace and eventually the leaves will be back on the trees, the flowers in the meadows, the birds on the branches, the fish in the streams ...
Forests make the harshest of light more gentle, as it can only filter through, creating some softness and atmosphere, they slow down your movements and your thoughts until they finally disappear giving back your instincts … and the magic is back!
Of course, given this darken period of time, light is welcome!
I wish you all a good day! Hang on there ...
Love, Simona