Swan song

Swan song; a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. And the title I chose for my latest YouTube-video. Way more dramatic than I intended it to be. After all I was just photographing swans. Or attempting to.

Slow days in the mountains

All true the winter I had been missing spending time alone with my camera. So getting the opportunity to spend not just a couple of days, but more than a week alone at the cabin at Savalen felt nothing short of amazing.

I worked my hours from the cabin office and spent the rest of the day being outside. Exploring new locations, revisiting old ones and more than anything else tried to capture the swans. Well I didn’t succeed with that part of the project, but I certainly succeeded with the main goal of the stay; I found balance and grounding through photography again.

It was slow days. Just what I needed.

I’ve been working too much, been working out just to be able to check the box and I’ve crashed on the sofa every night once the boys have gone to bed. I’ve been so tired. The time and energy to create hasn’t been there and it’s been super frustrating. More than once the last six months I’ve contemplated to just sell my camera equipment and accept that there’s just not a surplus for creativity anymore.

In that sense this could have been my swan song. I could have made this last big project of the YouTube-video that came out of my swan photography attempts my final effort before I retired my camera. But I know myself better than that. I love it too much to ever quit.

The best is yet to come

My images of the swans were nothing to brag about. But I did capture a few images that made me happy. And I made a video that tells a story about not giving up. About believing in the fact that the best is yet to come. The swans will return. And so will I. With my camera in hand.

All the best,

Tonje