Perhaps it’s a year-end reflection, but after years of capturing images, I finally have to admit that the underlying reason I take photographs is to have another excuse to be outside. I really just want to spend as much time as possible with the trees, sky and animals. The forests and fields near my home and out west are where I feel most alive and connected, happy and present. Stepping outside, past and future evaporate, taking with them their regrets and worries, and I’m able to step back into myself.
Recently, the dogs and I replaced the hunters who occupied the wood behind my house. After three months, stepping into the forest felt as welcoming as it used to feel stepping into my Mom’s house after a long absence, embraced now by the oaks, locusts, elms and evergreens, the smell as fulfilling and familiar as my mother’s kitchen. It feels like home. It feels like family. And I feel like me.
I could choose to just enjoy these feelings, and many days I do, but perhaps because I feel such deep connection, it conjures a desire to share the experience. Yet instead of relinquishing my solitude, I capture the moment in photographs to be shared later. The images satisfy my need to express the love, admiration, gratitude and wonder I experience when I’m held by the Earth.
I believe we are what we think about. This year in particular, I’ve chosen to focus on the natural world. In return, she has provided otherworldly light, magic moments and the gift of connection.
Happy New Year, all.