Pushing through creative inertia, Bras Cubas and his posthumous memoirs, ethereal landscapes, and appreciating all that autumn has to offer.

The projects that took most of my time this month either haven’t been released or haven’t been completed. I’ll speak more about that next month. However, I did spend some time shooting for October’s Community Assignment with the prompt reflection. The photos are fun and a bit abstract, and I shared the whole set on my Patreon. I think I’ll make a post talking about my approach to reflection photos in the future, as it’s one of my favorite techniques.

I also put together my third round of photography favorites, including work by Danny Lyon, Emile Ducke, and Nanna Heitmann. Every few months I’ll update this gallery of photos with more or less a dozen new ones. It’s a good way for me to keep track of my tastes, as well as to share them with others.

Lastly, this past Monday, I wrote an essay about discipline. October was a great month for me creatively, which was an improvement over September, which was an improvement over August. I’ve been thankfully on the upswing lately, and discipline has more to do with it than I would have thought. Sounds obvious, is obvious, but I wrote down my thoughts on it anyway, so go take a look if you’re interested.

All Quiet on the Western Front. Everyone should read this book. I regret that it took me so long to do so myself. All Quiet is an anti-war novel, taking place during the first world war. Aside from the vivid, relentless brutality that’s to be expected, this book does something else that captures the mind. It’s written from the perspective of the German military. Young boys, stuck in the trenches, feeling all of hell’s wickedness firsthand. Multiple times during my reading, I was reminded and struck by the idea that I was reading about them, not us. We divide the world’s history so starkly by its winners and losers, good guys and bad, but it’s never that simple. I would have thought that I could easily slip into a novel like this, shifting my perspective with ease, but I needed constant reminding. These were German soldiers, boys, fighting a war for which they didn’t ask. Had I been born then, over there, I would be them. It’s an important concept to digest, and this novel helps considerably.

A Single Man. This was a beautiful, succinct, and painful read. A Single Man follows the protagonist, George, through a single day in his life following the sudden death of his partner. The novel examines loss, loneliness, and mundanity. George comes across as expectedly disillusioned but simultaneously appreciative, or at least open, to what life throws at him. It is heartbreaking, yes, but also touching. Now that I think of it, this and All Quiet were both made into films. A Single Man was released in 2009 and stars Colin Firth as George. All Quiet was recently released on Netflix.

On Photography. I have this as a physical copy. I picked it up in Lisbon back in June, maybe sensing the oncoming creative turmoil I would come to experience. I’d never read it but always felt that unacceptable for obvious reasons. So I bought it. I was worried that it would read like a manual, but to my delight, that couldn’t be further from the truth. On Photography is much more an analysis of the effect photography has had on society, as well as its psychological impact on both artists and consumers. This couldn’t be more up my alley, and I’m excited to talk more about it in the future.

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. What can I say about this book? It’s nothing like what I expected, but I’m not even sure what that was. It reminded me of Nabokov at times, especially when its prose almost distracted from the story, but I’m not even sure the story was all that important. This thing has one hundred sixty chapters (chapters, not pages), making it sometimes hard to focus, but also allowing the author immense freedom in how he told the story, keeping things constantly fresh and interesting. I think I love this book, but I’m still trying to absorb it. I should probably read it again, but my brain needs a break.

Photo: Dan Cook

Dan Cook, long-time patron, subscriber, and internet-buddy, knows how to photograph the outdoors. All of his photos are lovely, but my favorites are the ethereal woodland photos like the one shown above. It fits neatly into the “yeah but how did he do that” box. I don’t know how he does it, but that’s part of the allure for me. His work takes me away, to places that I’m not even sure exist, managing to capture light my eyes have never been fortunate enough to see. It’s magic, and I love it. Big thanks to Dan for the amazing kindness and support over all these years. To find his work, click or tap on any of the underlined bits, or the photo above. You won’t be sorry.

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Life abroad reaches peak potential when you manage to match the season with the destination. I’d argue that autumn is pretty hard to mess up, but there are a few places where everything just seems to click into place during October and November, and, apparently, Romania is one of them. Brasov has been exquisite over the past few weeks. The autumnal colors have been in full force, helped hugely by the tree-covered mountain that looms over the town. The temperature sits at a cool high of about 58° (14° celsius), and we’ve only had a day or two of rain. I couldn't have asked for better, and you better believe I’m making the most of it photographically. I’m back in the swing of things, camera around my neck practically every day. I love this time of year.

Other than that, we’ve successfully booked the next four months of accommodation, usually unheard of for us. I won’t spoil the fun, but I’m excited to say that we’ll be heading to some places we’ve never been. After a few long-term stays this year and last, I’m ready to bounce around a bit more like the good old days. Ok, I’m going to play in some leaves or eat soup or something. Gotta take all the autumn I can get. So that's all for this month. I hope you enjoyed this issue of Recollect. If you did, or if you didn’t, let me know. Hit the black box below to send me an email with your thoughts. I’m all ears. Thank you for your support. I’ll see you next month.