Multiple exposures of trees throughout Fairmount park and the surrounding highways in Philadelphia captured on Mar. 23, 2025.
The Nature of (City) Life
AlettertoPhiladelphia,nature,andmylove.
By Calistha Gunawan
A woman waits for the 38 bus on Spring Garden in Philadelphia, Pa. on Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025,
Taking the 38 bus to Fairmount took me back in time. I’ve been to Fairmount Park numerous times on account of sophomore year of high school when I decided to run cross country and our races would take place at Belmont Plateau. But I’ve never been to the surrounding neighborhood around Fairmount Park, known as Belmont Village.
Not only was this my first time in Belmont Village, this was my first time operating a film camera. However, I found that while doing something entirely new, I was also rekindling with an old, past version of myself. This adventure evoked my deep rooted love for nature, even as a self- proclaimed, hard core city kid.
Though I like to say that Philadelphia has shaped me into the independent and resilient person I say I am, the truth is, I am grossly dependent on human connection and crave a natural environment. Outside the bustling city life, I yearn for the simplicity of the decaying trees, quiet trails, and the hums of the natural world.
and
A tree
a car in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Mar. 23, 2025.
Joe Leedy in front of Famous Reading Anthracite near Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025.
I went on this adventure with my partner Joe, whom I am lucky enough to experience our early young adult lives together. Coincidentally, this adventure mirrored our very first date where he took me to Bartram’s Garden, a place I’ve never been before, despite living nearby my entire life. The dates following, we would always pick a place in nature and walk and explore aimlessly. Ever since then, wandering around aimlessly together has been our favorite pastime. Belmont Village was eerily similar to the neighborhood I grew up in. The local car wash and churches and the random bridge that hovered over train tracks. Through all familiar sites, it reminded me of the cynical nature of time. I feel that I have changed so much, but many things around me seem to have remained the same, even at a new place.
“Abe Full Service Car Wash” in the Belmont Village neighborhood in Philadelphia, captured on Mar. 23, 2025.
The 41st St. bridge in Philadelphia, captured on Mar. 23, 2025.
| The Nature of (City) Life
Christ Community Baptist Church in the Belmont Village neighborhood in Philadelphia on Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025.
Captured on Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025, a trolly passing through a street intersection in Belmont, Philadelphia.
The intersection of 41st and Parkside around Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025.
Looking back at the progression of my relationship with Joe, we are no longer eighteen year olds high school seniors with nothing better to do. But yet, we are still doing the same things— walking around in the comfort of each other’s presence, without a fixed destination.
I am graduating college soon, with an impulse to have everything figured out. I can feel heart ready to jump on the opportunity to move to a new city, start up my career, and shed my past self and magically morph into my adult self.
Plastic parts on the ground in Belmont, Philadelphia captured on Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025.
But deep down I know I can not skip seasons. I’ve learned that nature has its own timing. I can be upset that it’s cold and that the trees look frail, or I can accept the current progression of nature and learn to appreciate what is in front of me. Perhaps, that is why growing old is so perplexing. I am anxious to leap ahead and discover “new” parts of life. But my old self still lives within me, still trying to make sense of everything.
It’s funny how one can be born and live an entire life in the same city without ever visiting some part of it. And maybe so, that is just the nature of life. We’re constantly moving forward, absorbed in the day-to-day, sometimes missing out on the moments that can offer us clarity or new perspectives. The city life reminds us to go-go-go, while our younger self relishes in the past and falters behind.
But perhaps that’s the lesson of the city—of nature, and of life itself. Because, like nature, we all have our seasons and our moments of stillness. And in those moments, we find clarity and most importantly, we find ourselves.