Along Sourdough Trail

Yesterday I went for an evening run along Sourdough Trail, my first of the season. New leaves are just reaching out from the buds; the air is thick with expectation. But bareness still dominates, and the hard light from the west seemed a challenge. Here is where I started to learn about that light, though it was the leaf-filtered summer light that originally attracted me. For two years I photographed along this mile of path and stream. I thought I might be done with it, but apparently not.

In this coming year, I want to return to Sourdough Trail to deepen my practice and experience. Like many photographers, I tend to write in statements that I photograph to engage a place, to learn about it—and myself—in a particular way. What is that way? What can one actually learn and how? This blog is an attempt to cast some light on the process.