The Project

"As the crickets' soft, autumn hum
is to us
so are we to the trees
as are they
to the rocks and the hills."

Gary Snyder 

It was this Haiku that I heard last year by Gary Snyder that set me to thinking about my next project in book form.

My photo-journey books are nothing more than wonderful projects I think up that involve two of the things I like the most.

Well, two things I like to do a lot?

Photography and writing.

Oh I guess my list could be much much longer.

Hiking, exploring, riding, dogs...but you get the point.

Everything I do in my adventures of hiking and riding seem to cross a small seemingly insignificant creek that runs approximately one mile from the spring to where it joins a larger creek.

Here is a trickle of water that gently moves over rocks and earth.  It follows with the path of least resistance...always seeking lower ground.

The creek fascinates me in so many ways.  It can have a quiet little murmur as it makes its way down the valley or the the loud deadly roar from a flash flood.

The creek is vital to the valley's wildlife.

It is there.

The creek doesn't participate in the drama that may occur on its banks.  It ignores the death throes of a doe caught by a pack of coyotes or the wandering of a raccoon or 'possum looking for an open spot of water to get a drink when it is 20 below.

The creek is steady.

It is the live blood of the surrounding valley.

So I'm going to work on a project of how it changes with the seasons.

After all, I nearly cross this little creek every day.

 

And so starts my journey about something that seems so insignificant, yet ... is not.

 

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” 

Gary Snyder