This image holds a special place in my heart.
24/03/2019, life was hard for me at this moment in time. Family issues mainly, causing me a lot of mental health problems. My camera and photo walks or photo adventures helped me cope with these times. I had recently moved over to Fujifilm after selling all my Nikon DSLR equipment in readiness to move to Thailand later in the year. I was till figuring the system out, I only had the 18-55 Kit lens with me that day and had struggled to find an image I was really happy with. I had been up and out the house from 5am to try and catch sunrise, which I almost missed. It was one of those days that everything just seemed to go wrong and at that time in my life I was struggling to deal with days like that.
I got in the car and I was heading home, totally defeated I had given up on finding a good image that day. Only I was wrong, I turned a corner and saw this mountain edge lighting up in the afternoon sun. I found somewhere to stop, grabbed the camera and snapped as many shots as I could. The light just kept getting better as if the universe was pushing the clouds out of the way, just for me. In the 10 or 15 mins I was stood here taking pictures I remember the excitement and joy that flooded over me, completely removing the pain and struggle that I faced every day. Once I felt I had the image I put the camera down and soaked up the beauty that nature has to offer. I got in the car checked the LCD on my camera and I had it, a great image that made all the effort, the early morning, multiple fruitless hikes and 2 hour drive worth while.
What this image taught me was photography is so powerful and helped me, even just for a few minutes, to forget all of the issues that life can throw at us these days. It gave me a few minutes rest from my mental struggles. It gave me renewed hope that not everything is bad and good things are always around the corner, sometimes you just have to drive a little further through life until you find those good things. Never give up, find the things that make you happy and if you're reading this, I'll guess photography is your thing!
If you're struggling with anything in life talk to someone it really helps!
Thank you as always,
Arran.
