Seasons of the Poudre, 2021
I pursued the timelapse component of Fireforest for a strategic reason: to show the connection between fire, water, and forest. However, when you take thousands of photos of a river throughout a year, you document much more than one concept.
I’ve been driving, biking, and walking along the Cache la Poudre River for the last four years, but last year I looked at it with a new intensity. I watched the water rise and fall, freeze and thaw, turn brown, black, and blue. I saw the river not just as a channel of water, but a living ribbon of life, shaping and being shaped by the land, plants, and animals around it.
A river is more than a source of drinking water. It is more than wildlife habitat. It is time, it is beauty, it is place.
As I looked at each of the thousands of images the timelapse camera recorded last year, I was focused on the water quality, but amazed by the dynamic beauty. I didn’t plan to create a photo essay of its seasons, but I couldn’t resist. Here are 24 frames of a year on the Poudre River.
Spring
A time of vibrance and tenderness as grasses sprout and leaves unfurl, rendered even more vibrant after the Cameron Peak Fire. Snow melts and water flows, bringing with it anglers and runoff sediment.
Summer
Storms. Sediment. Sun. Rain strikes the burnt slopes, which erode into the river, turning it black and suffocating fish. Still, the river runs.
Autumn
The river tires and the rains relent. Leaves and grasses succumb, but not before flashing gold and casting themselves into the Poudre’s dark waters. Theatened by their new beauty, the sunrises and sunsets grow in intensity. The land welcomes snow’s gentle cover.
Winter
The river rests. An entirely new beauty emerges, even more dynamic than autumn’s. Ethereal, violent, depressed, and gay, all within a day. The river dons a constantly changing coat of ice. Never underestimate the beauty of winter.
