10
October usually means that the temperatures start dropping. An early omen for warm clothes and gas heaters. October in Jordan meant I woke up everyday feeling lucky that the sun was up.
Going through heartbreak, I looked for the beauties in life by reconnecting and interacting with the earth, and by meeting new people. I found a gentleness towards my family that I didn’t realize I lost. I made new friends in the agriculture industry, where they work on growing native plants and trees that are mostly, and surprisingly, endangered. I attended a friend’s wedding in Salt and the Dead Sea and met people from all over the world there. I worked through a video for my job that I am proud of. It was a month of reflection, long conversations, honing the skill of expressing thoughts and feelings, and evaluation. It was also a month with fewer photos taken and fewer journal entries written. The month ended well with the dust settled, parents returning from the US, and the constant reminder to find a new outlook everyday.
I noticed when printing my photos on regular photo paper that my blacks look more like grays. So I am working on making my blacks more black and seeing how that looks like. Photographer Matt Black really darkens his shadows. Photography is a muscle. It requires momentum to get on a roll. Carrying your camera everywhere and making sure that you are constantly viewing the world knowing that any moment can be a moment capture is important for any photographer. It’s a matter of how willing are you to carry your camera when your personal time and life get rough.
