Lately, I’ve been keeping a roll of film loaded and ready to take with me wherever I go. There’s nothing quite like slowing it down to steep in the vastness of nature with my heart, mind, and soul and taking a few photos to keep the memories of it with me forever. These are some of the calm moments that made this last minute road trip down the Mendocino coast. It was a weekend spent appreciating old textures and barn facades, coastlines and radio towers, Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, and some midday light against the ocean’s surface.
With film, it’s easy to find the memories I’ve captured slowly leaving my recollection because I can’t fall to the back of my camera to remind me of them. I’m left to wait until I finish the rest of my film to remember the moment when I stood on a cliff edge overhanging an infinite coastline as I wondered about all the things I still needed to discover about the world. Or how the grass of summer danced with the wind while there was nothing else to be heard except for waves breaking in the distance. And the time when I watched the cars cross a bridge overlooking the beach to wish they could only be where I was right then to see it from my perspective.
It’s that return to every moment after getting my film back that does it for me…always reminding me of the thoughts that crossed my mind as I stood in the face of beauty and rendering every detail just the way I remember seeing it.
Film always brings me back to how it felt…
Shot on Ilford Delta 100.