Changing seasons are an ever present example of the passage of time. This year, I truly experienced my first Fall. I was going through a transition period, switching gears from being a self-employed photographer to a full-time student in medical school. I was transitioning physically as the temperatures began to drop out of the normal limits for a SoCal girl use to 80s through December. For the first time, I was truly away from family and friends, and while I was blessed to be in school with my sister, things felt so foreign.

Although I was grateful for reaching this longtime goal, the shift was bittersweet. I went through a rollercoaster of self-doubt and insecurity, second-guessing myself and my abilities as I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that I had made it. God had brought me to a place where I had only dreamed of being. It was overwhelming and tiring. The emotions I was feeling fit so much with the current season. The leaves were changing from the greens I was so used to, to fiery reds, vivid oranges and yellow hues, and slowly began to fall to the ground to be trampled underfoot. It was overwhelmingly beautiful.

I wasn’t alone in this season of transitions. I had family and friends who were going through transitions of their own, and who were going through this slow, rewarding yet painful process same as I was. As I struggled with my emotions and confidence, I watched the leaves change and fall from my bedroom window and on my daily walk to school. It hit me one day, that the leaves weren’t falling without a purpose. They were falling in preparation for new growth. The changing colors and falling leaves were a symbol of progress, and a reminder that a renewing is coming. A new year is approaching as the current one comes to a close.

The change of seasons brings hope and inspired this visual project depicting the emotions we might experience in transitional periods. I hope you enjoy and that some part of it resonates with you.