slow but burning summer

Summer 2022 has been one of the hottest ever recorded in Europe. The average temperature for Europe from June to August 2022 was about 1.34°C above the 1991-2020 average for the season (Copernicus). I remember being in France in early June, and going to the office sounded as a relief: there was AC. For France it was the 2nd warmest season ever, after the deadly one of 2003.

Looking back at some of my photographs taken during that summer, I noticed a subtle haze in some of them, as if a veil of dryness and heat lay over them. I call this veil the veil of nostalgia because it settles over things, almost distancing them due to the added difficulty in seeing them clearly. Nostalgia is represented by the absence of what could have been, the landscape in potential. If climate change were a feeling, it would probably be a mix of several. Certainly, this feeling would be included.

Yet, of those days spent chasing the wind, I remember the beauty of being able to do so in the midst of nature. Being there makes me want to share its beauty. My hope is that by showing this beauty, we can also be inspired to save it: from fire, from man, and from nostalgia.