"Camera Walk"

 It's 8:30 in the morning on the first day of autumn. Our assignment is to go for a walk around our respective neighborhoods with a camera, documenting the physical space and time we move through. I'm pretty excited because the weather is gorgeous this morning and photography is a hobby of mine... 

This is my front door, as I am leaving to begin my walk. Everything is still along my street, but one lot down at our corner, a few cars move past. Everyone is probably on their way to work or school now. It's very quiet, and peaceful, as it usually is. I make my way around the corner, heading towards the park...

 As I walk, I'm very aware of the wide open space surrounding me. Saskatchewan is famous for its endless prairieland and brilliantly blue sky: Even within the city there is so much room and space and nature; it is easy to tell where we are located. There is nothing threatening to me about being exposed in this way. It becomes surreal, like I am the last person alive. The openness makes me want to fling my arms out, make myself bigger in some way, as if I could fill the entire landscape. I wonder how people, after living here, could move to a crowded city. I wonder if they are ever claustrophobic, compressed... 

Here I am walking along a paved path in the park; I think the shadow of a tree must have cropped up as I was attempting this picture of my own shadow. It looks really neat, superimposed as it is. Almost like fire. The leaves are likewise dressed in autumnal, fiery colors. I am going to miss the greenery out of my back window, even more so when the snow starts to fall...

There are geese literally everywhere on the lake today. During migrating season I sometimes wake up to the sounds of honking, screeching, and splashing. Today they are particularly raucous and I steer far clear so as not to alarm them...

They do sometimes chase  people, and as amusing as that is, a high speed chase scene simply doesn't fit into my walk today. The serenity and harmony of the natural setting makes me want to walk slower, to enjoy the trees, the taller grass, even the birds...

I've reached the other side of the park. In order to get back to my house, I have to walk along the street again. Taking this picture, I was reminded of Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends, a favorite book of mine as a child. I wonder where it might have gotten to, as I haven't seen it for years.

There is much more traffic along the road now than there was before, and I am finding it jarring compared to the peacefulness of walking under the trees. Even the cacaphony of geese seemed less obstructive to my thoughts. The world is closing in again around me...

I look back to take one last picture of the still lake before turning down my street and returning fully to reality.