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When I last went out hiking in the sunlight, which now seems like a distant memory because it's been raining here for days on end, I was alone, just me and my thoughts and my camera.
I don't go out hiking just to see the same boring paths that I saw last time because there's always this niggly feeling that there's more exciting stuff to be had once you leave the trodden pathway that many others have trapesed and you venture into unchartered territory. I can hear all the environmentalists screaming at me that paths are there for a reason blah blah blah...but do you honestly think that mother nature gives that many fucks? In the grander scheme of things, our little pathways are insignificant to her. Trails become trails through wear and tear over time. I know this because game trails get cemented by animals too in the same way - creatures of habit just like us. She treats us all pretty equally.
I've never been great at conforming to the masses. I was told in school when I took a psychometric test for career choices that I don't like authority. Of course, I argued with her just to prove a point lol. It apparently didn't bode well for my original career choices which never materialized anyway thankfully.
It's exactly the same when I find myself in the wilderness or when I approach how I take photos, I like to walk my own path, even if I have sunspots in my eyes for hours afterwards, I'll point my camera into the sun if there's a possibility that the photo will be worth it. Is that very Machiavellian of me? Probably. My mom always used to say "You have to suffer to be beautiful".
When I was hiking I found myself in a section of the park that is secreted away. I know this because there was no path. I was very surprised to find a bench in the middle of nowhere with a view that was pretty spectacular. I love how the trees were reflected in the water.
I got a bit of a kick out of it because I'm sure that there are hundreds of people that have come through this park and taken photos of the same things I have but have no idea that this little spot even exists. Why? because there isn't a pathway leading them there. They lack the adventurous spirit and curiosity to find it, or the inclination to go looking.
It's encapsulated by trees and rather dark in there. If there once was a pathway, it's been reclaimed by nature and long forgotten. She's a badass that way.
So what's my point of this long-winded post?
Never be scared of the challenge of going somewhere pathless. Don't take photos in a particular way because a book says you have to. Find your own sense of adventure and blaze your own trail. Take a leaf out of nature's book and refuse to be boxed. Picasso did it and I think it served him well.
When was the last time you tried something new or different when outdoors? What was it? Did it work out the way you had hoped?
