Here we are, beginning the last quarter of 2020.  Who knew back on January 1 that this year would be marked by so much craziness.  The reason that we all set out to take a photo a day back then was to document the details of our daily lives.  I hope you have done that.

One of the things that I learned back in 2014, my second year of taking a photo a day, is that is equally important to photograph the difficult, the dark, the sad, the ugly days as it is to photograph the happy and beautiful ones.  I learned this the day I photographed my dad’s funeral.  We need these “not so pretty” photos to look back at and remind us how far we’ve come, that we have survived, that we are resilient.  On the tough days, it can be hard to even pick up our cameras, let alone photograph something that we’d rather not be experiencing let alone preserving with a photo, just do it.  In the years to come, you will be glad that you did.  I promise you that.

As we look toward the holidays and the end of this year, take a few moments and look back at your photos from the past nine months.  What do they say to you about your experience living in COVID times?  Do your daily photos accurately reflect your life and feelings about living through 2020?

For me, October brings a marked change in my internal and external worlds.  I look forward to the holiday season, even this year knowing that it might be different.  I take stock of my goals for the year, those already accomplished and those that still need to be wrapped up.  I begin to think about the mysteries that may lie ahead in the new year.  Much of this season of reflection is sparked by the changing natural world.  In the northern hemisphere, fall brings new colors before the trees drop their leaves and bare the stark form of their skeleton, that which holds their real essence.  In the Southern Hemisphere, spring is bringing newness of life.  Either way, “things are a changin.

Wherever you find yourself in the world or in your head, photograph that place.  Picture Today.  October.  2020.  The beginning of the last quarter of this crazy year!