Several years ago I posted a series called Breathe Deep the Gathering Gloom, a sort of 12 Days of Christmas approach to autumn. This photograph is part of my "Wrought" project. I’m calling it Breathe Deep the Gathering Doom.

I initially wasn't pleased with this roll, taken with a Rolleiflex and Rollenair close-up attachment. Today, it appeals to me more. Maybe it's the depressing news that's become even more depressing in the past couple of days. Maybe I just don't find this too on-the-nose. Maybe it was the Paris catacombs sequence in an episode of "Lupin" I watched last night. Maybe I am now able to pick up the flow I was in when I made this. At the time of making, I almost always believe in the photograph.

I am reminded, but not comforted, by this poem by Rainer Maria Rilke:

Autumn

Time now, Lord. Summer was great,
but lay your shadow on the sundials,
free your winds over the open fields.

Bid the late fruit – Be Full. Give them
two more southerly days. Complete them,
make the wine heavy with last sweetness.

The one who has no house now, will
have no house. The one who is alone now,
will remain alone, lie awake, read,
write long letters, or wandering, blow
about the streets like the fallen leaves.

translation: Nils Peterson