On this August morning in Louisiana my weather app reads 92 degrees with 88% humidity at 8 a.m.

This would be why I’m not a fan of the South in the summer. This would be why I avoid being out in the elements at this time of year. This would be why air-conditioning is my friend and why I wasn’t looking forward to being outside for even one photo session.

However, I had a relative who was giving birth a few days ago and all through that day, as I was praying for her and thinking about her, images of water kept playing through my mind. Although it’s been 28 years since I last experienced it, I still very vividly remember the power I felt when my water broke and the process started, that rushing of the water.

Which turned my thoughts to a local dam I found by accident the last time I lived here, so I went out in search of it, remembering the rush of water flowing through it’s man-made barriers in an attempt to harness and control that particular element.

The search did not disappoint.

My memory also served me well in knowing this was a place often frequented by people with spray paint in hand and although graffiti has little to do with the elements, my camera also turned to the evidence of themselves they’ve chosen to leave behind.  I suspect visiting this place might be a sort of rite of passage to high schoolers in the area. Perhaps that, in itself, is a sort of elemental pull to this place.

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This entire photo shoot took all of 15 minutes and I was soaked with sweat by the time I was finished. Yep, I’m not a fan of experiencing the elements in the summer in Louisiana.

Headed up to South Dakota in a few days….highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s.

Places with those kind of temperatures in August are my new happy place.