July was not a good month. At least not for me.
It felt too hot, too heavy, and far too difficult to find a steady rhythm. The fact that I took my camera out only once, just for a handful of pictures for my own pleasure, says everything.
Summer, at least in my mind, is meant to be spent outdoors. Walks in the evening light, time by the sea, small adventures, and long, lazy hours under the shade of trees. But when the thermometer rises above 40°C (104°F), the idea of pleasure almost disappears. You start measuring the day not by what you want to do, but by where you might find shelter. The cool spot becomes the number one priority, and every other activity gets squeezed into the earliest hours of the morning or the last hours of the night.
August, though, has started a bit better. A little cooler, a little gentler, more human-friendly, so to speak :)
And with that small relief, I finally picked up my camera again. It felt like greeting the new month with a small ritual, a promise to myself to notice and to capture. Nothing ambitious, nothing grand, just a stroll through the park, chasing the light and looking for the right angle.
In fact, this is an old promise. For years now, I’ve been going out to take a few new pictures on the first day of each month. But it’s not always as effortless, as natural, as it felt today.
And today, it truly was a good day!
I’ve walked through this park countless times and have taken hundreds of photographs there, over the years. And yet, it never feels exactly the same. The plants grow taller, bloom, or fade away. The colours shift with the months. The sun takes a different path across the sky depending on the season. And perhaps most importantly, the photographer changes too.
What I notice, what I choose to frame, how I see the familiar corners, all of it evolves with time.
And there’s always a backdrop that never fails: the castle rising in the distance and the majestic statue of a hero of the Greek Revolution, watching quietly over it all. A reminder of continuity, of presence, of something larger than the passing moods of a single hot month.
So here’s to August!
To new beginnings, to gentler days, to cooler evenings. Happy new month, wherever you are, north or south of the equator. May it bring you light worth chasing :)
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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