June 7, 2025

What old doors taught me

The alarm went off before dawn, and by six I was already at the botanical garden. The café near the botanical garden still serves the same cinnamon buns; I had two and pretended it was research.

The path was muddy and longer than the map suggested, but the view at the end made up for it. By noon the crowds arrived, so I walked further along the path, where old doors were still undisturbed.

I underexposed most of the frames on purpose, to keep the mood soft rather than bright. An elderly couple asked me to take their picture. I used their phone, then made one frame of them on mine.

A light drizzle started around ten. I sheltered under a bus stop roof and photographed people hurrying past. Locals barely noticed me. A man feeding gulls told me the place looks completely different in spring.

The light was soft, and old doors kept pulling my attention away from anything I had planned to photograph. There is something calming about returning to the same spot and noticing small changes since the last visit.

Next time I want to try the same walk at sunset.