Someday I’ll wish upon a star

When skies are grey and so is one’s mood, it’s hard to find motivation to head out into the gloom with camera in hand, despite all the New Year’s resolutions. It’s damp, maybe raining cats and dogs; the wind is bitter, and the light … what light? The Pacific Northwest creates a special kind of dreary as Pacific storms roll onto the coast in waves as consistent as those on the sea.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) drives the melancholic to bathe their frowns in full-spectrum lighting devices, or computer screens. Yet outside there is still a wonderful world to be seen and felt.

I see clouds of white

It sometimes takes a push from my inner adventurer to remind me of this fact (I recall a time of great danger in the mountains, frozen by fear on a storm-lashed north face, when a former hated phys-ed teacher’s voice boomed in my head: “Parker, move your arse!”) Perhaps I won’t perish by staying warm on the sofa, surfing the Net … but then again.

Just like any photography foray, chances are I’ll come back with nothing but delete, delete, delete. Then again, if I venture out, as I did yesterday, under uniformly leaden skies, it may turn out that a treasure presents itself when least expected.

Over the Rainbow

Technical Details: Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 (top), Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 | RAW files edited in Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK Viveza, Color Efex Pro 4 and Silver Efex Pro 2