Very nice essay and beautiful pictures! I love the quote - so true - but am sorry to read of your “melancholy.” Perhaps “sadness” or “anguish” are better words. Certainly, hiking alone is a great way to work your way through it. No river but no mountain top, as your pictures show, is ever the same. I look forward to your Day Two.
I think you're right about the word choice. I've had a lot of time constraints lately and this maybe could have used some more revision. Thanks for reading!
This piece REALLY resonates with me. I don't know what (or who) you're grieving but I can totally relate to the mixed and heavy feelings of being in particular nature spaces. I was on the most beautiful mountain retreat of my life the day I got the call that my son had passed. Now, as melancholy as the mountains make me, they also save me. Nature is the only place that makes it easier to breathe when your soul is collapsing.
That's heartbreaking to read! It's profound how differently familiar places are experienced at different places in our lives.
I'm glad you liked this year's sunset photo. I'm proud of it, but wanted to compare it to almost the same scene 2 years ago to show how I've evolved as a photographer.
Thank you for your kind and comforting words!
Very nice essay and beautiful pictures! I love the quote - so true - but am sorry to read of your “melancholy.” Perhaps “sadness” or “anguish” are better words. Certainly, hiking alone is a great way to work your way through it. No river but no mountain top, as your pictures show, is ever the same. I look forward to your Day Two.
I think you're right about the word choice. I've had a lot of time constraints lately and this maybe could have used some more revision. Thanks for reading!
Maaaan, that middle sunset (2023) is gorgeous!
This piece REALLY resonates with me. I don't know what (or who) you're grieving but I can totally relate to the mixed and heavy feelings of being in particular nature spaces. I was on the most beautiful mountain retreat of my life the day I got the call that my son had passed. Now, as melancholy as the mountains make me, they also save me. Nature is the only place that makes it easier to breathe when your soul is collapsing.
That's heartbreaking to read! It's profound how differently familiar places are experienced at different places in our lives.
I'm glad you liked this year's sunset photo. I'm proud of it, but wanted to compare it to almost the same scene 2 years ago to show how I've evolved as a photographer.
Practice makes perfect and sunsets are always perfect! You chose a great subject for your photos 😊
Erik, beautiful story and images. There is nothing like being out in nature with time to think. I am looking forward to the next chapter.
Thanks, my friend! With elegant simplicity you just got to the essence of it all!