Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

Buddhist Proverb

Being gripped by sadness is an awful state, but one that fades with riding and writing.

There exists two possible options when I write a blog post. The first and most simple is when I write about the experience and feelings during the actual ride pictured. And the second is when I write about other feelings triggered while looking at the pictures.

My friend Paul and I were headed to Kissell Motorsports for my Vespa’s annual Pennsylvania safety inspection.

It’s funny how different a photograph can look between the moment I made it and when I am writing about it. The sun is shining, birds are singing, there is food at hand, and money in my pocket. In terms of what’s required to survive in this world I want for nothing.

Yet I’m gripped by sadness.

The sweep of an open landscape can generate a sense of hope and possibility. Often, perhaps always, when I stop to make these kinds of photographs I feel a thrill. And I did on that morning. But looking at them now, influenced by the rattling chaos of life, I see none of that.

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