Seasonal photography

A sign of spring raises a very basic question.

After a winter that had more than its share of stress (though not weather stress, at least not here) the cherry blossoms are out in Alexandria.  They, and the other flowering trees, are a welcome sign of spring.  They’re lovely in their own right, but along with some fine weather they can lift the hearts of our neighbors and ourselves in a way that’s all the more welcome for having happened many times before.

It does mean that one must be careful, on the narrow Old Town sidewalks, to watch out for people taking pictures of the blossoms.  Photographers can get intent upon their subjects, ignoring other people and their surroundings in pursuit of the right angle and framing.  This holds for anyone with a smartphone, not just the more professional (or pretentious) operators of cameras.  But our photographer is not among them.

It’s not that he’s run out of film, or even color film; he has his reserve in the freezer.  Nor that’s he so busy or occupied that he hasn’t the time.  Nor that he doesn’t appreciate the beauty of spring, especially on a sunny day before it gets hot.  It’s that he doesn’t feel that he can really add anything to the profusion of pictures already filling everything from old books to social media.  He doesn’t feel he has any special skill, or way of looking at things, that would make it worthwhile for him to take pictures of cherry blossoms.

He doesn’t mean that everyone or anyone now snapping away should necessarily have such a skill or insight!  There are lots of reasons for taking pictures, and why you do it is up to you.  He quite appreciates a spontaneous response to beauty.  And he understands that a part of the appeal of cherry blossoms is their short lifetime.  In a couple of weeks all those particles of pink will be gone, fallen into the streets and onto the sidewalk, to be cleared away as the strong greens of summer take over.  Just having a reminder of something that’s gone is valuable.

Indeed, our navigator has many pictures that are in themselves unremarkable, but form a record of his travels.  The cathedrals of Florence are not at the best under an overcast sky, and the Alhambra of Granada loses at least some of its impact on a watery-sunlit winter day.  But that’s what he had to work with, and did not have the time to wait for the best conditions.  The results are good enough for his own use.

The cherry blossoms posed a basic question to our photographer: why do you take pictures?  He has his answer.  What is yours?