Summer is for rest
Something I've come to accept over the last 3-4 years is that summer is, for me, a time of rest.
Previously, summer was about adventure. For most of my adult life I would go traveling or on some sort of adventure each summer. One year I went to Japan, another I drove my Mum's old station wagon around the surf coast, running into different friends and reading a lot, another year I went to Taiwan.
The last big summer adventure was a three week trip to the USA followed by a long road trip through New South Wales. This was 2019 and I'd left a job with no concrete next step. I was planning on going back to University (which didn't happen), and had a bunch of time off. I was burned out and the two adventures really gave me a sense of freedom and excitement I'd been lacking.
It's worth mentioning that, being in Australia, summer is now. The end of one calendar year and the start of another. So often I'd be finishing a year and finishing a contract - when I was a teacher for a few years I would work one year at one school, finish up, then get a new job at another school. So summer was sort of this breathing room between ending and starting.
Summer is also a difficult time in Australia. It's a time of fires, of heatwaves, of sunburn, of sweat, of shuttering the house and trying to keep the heat at bay. Grass withers, plants die, animals collapse and pets can't as easily be taken outside (their paws may burn!). Air con thumps away endlessly and some nights feel too hot to ever sleep properly. It's not an easy season.
So, for a long time I'd escape. Either on some overseas trip where the winter would give me a break, or to the coast where daily swims were a joy. But since 2019 that's changed quite a bit.
In 2020 I took a short road trip around Victoria's west. It was meant to be 10 days, and I had a big list of places to see and things to do, but after 2 or 3 days I just could not be bothered. I gunned it home in one long 7 hour drive where I hit the spots I needed to and had like 3 power naps along the way.
In 2021 I tried something similar, planning on heading out and enjoying the outdoors. After so much time inside during COVID I figured there'd be so much I wanted to see and do. I think I made it about an hour before I rang my motel and said 'I'm not coming', turned around, went home and had a nap. I just wanted to vegetate on the couch.
For whatever reason, summer has become a time of rest for me. In some ways that's because everywhere is busy - it's school holidays and people are on break from work - so campsites, beaches, national parks, etc - they are all jammed with people. In other ways it's because summer's such a crap time to travel - a lot of places I want to visit could easily be 40 degrees (or more) and there's just no joy in tramping around on my own with a camera when it's that hot.
But perhaps the largest change is just that I get to the end of the year, my girlfriend leaves and visits her family in Perth, and I have a two or three week period where I have solitude, can be very quiet and bludge around. I can watch TV, go for walks, eat ice cream and find something rejuvenating about the ways this time is pointless, selfish and restful.
When I was a kid my family would go to the beach and I'd be very active, swimming, surfing, exploring, walking. When I was a young adult I would go off and see the world: Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Now that I'm a bit less energetic summer seems a pointless season in Australia - too hot, too bright and too crowded. So I take the opportunity to kick back and follow my gut. Do I want to go for a jog today, or is it better to just sleep some more?
The last two weeks have been close to my ideal life. I started back at work on January 3rd and, without my manager (who is taking a longer holiday to spend time with her children), I was able to get my work done quickly each day and then spend the rest of that day doing whatever I wanted. Mostly this involved a mixture of art work (planning events, making books for publication, organising trips for shooting this year), a lot of unstructured productive time (gardening, cleaning, rearranging the garage, cooking) and plenty of quiet contemplation. This is, more or less, all I want out of my day to day life: the freedom to spend it quietly tinkering away, making things, and having a fairly full but unhurried life.
That period of summer is ending soon. Next week it'll be all hands on deck at the day job and those chunks of time to spend how I want will evaporate, at least until Christmas 2023. Summer won't be over, it'll still be hot, probably until April. But from the 16th of January onwards we're back in 'regular' year mode. The languor, quietude and space that makes summer summer will be done.
So summer is for rest, but it's also a time where I can get my mind settled for the year ahead. This year it's even given me something very meaningful: clarity and direction. Gone are the adventures, but what's replaced them is as important, if not more so.
Some things coming up
MEL Photobook Fair. A few peers and I have organisined a new photobook fair here in Melbourne. It's a place where people can come and look at art books, sell their publications and enjoy the thriving scene we have. If you're a photobook publisher, or have self published, we've made the table costs really low so that anyone can get involved. Tall Poppy Press will be launching a new book, as will ACB press. The fair is in March and if you'd like to exhibit please apply :)
I'm teaching a weekend workshop in February, on the 11th and 12th. I've written a bit about this before but I have 2 spots left, it won't ever be this cheap again and if you'd like to learn more please do so at this link. The workshop is all about how to make books, publish and do so successfully. Feel free to send to friends :)