Budding Monochrome Monday

The trees and plants aren't quite there yet.. but they are coming soon!

As of writing this, the plants and trees around me aren't fully at the "Spring" moment, but it is for sure coming! We've had some really comfortable weather lately, with it hitting 60 degrees the other day. This has melted quite a bit of the snow that has accumulated over the winter and really brought a refreshing feel to the whole environment. Sure I enjoyed the winter, and it's one of those things that's a tiny bit bittersweet to see it go, but just like everything, I am extremely looking forward to Spring and all of the wonderful things that comes with it!

I used to think that I would have a "favorite" season, as some people do. Over time though, I've learned to appreciate small things about each season and I think that's incredibly important! If we are able to look forward to things no matter the time of the year, then we can deal with life a lot better.

There is nothing worse (metaphorically speaking..) than hearing someone say "UGH fuck this weather, I hate it!!!" There are very few situations where I would say that is acceptable. For me personally, if we get rain every day for 3 or 4 weeks straight then I would be at that low point. Gloomy weather ALL the time is challenging to deal with mentally, but we haven't had that for a few years so I wonder if I would feel the same now? Hard to say!

It's really like throwing water on a low fire though, when you hear someone talk like that. They are obviously very unhappy in their life so they can't look for the good of situations. The winter brings some challenging elements to deal with that's for sure, but it's also part of the natural cycle of the seasons and Earth. Things grow, they die and it needs to be a cycle of rebirth. The winter brings the necessary step to recycle nutrients back into the soil, so I find it incredibly important.

With Spring, I am for sure looking forward to seeing the trees, flowers and all that start to pop out and bloom again. It's such a nice feeling to see everything coming back to life. The sun is out and warm, the winter is releasing it's tight grip on the environment and things are coming back to life.

I love taking some of these mid-Spring photos and turning them into black and white. It's nice to see the way the buds look on the trees, but removing some of the colors associated with it ends up being a different experience. It kind of takes the focus on the object that the camera is pointed at and removes the stuff in the background. When I get really good at photo editing, I can figure out how to take the color out of everything except the primary target. Those photos will be pretty cool looking when I can figure it out!