Can Photography Heal?

We are all wounded, but when we take our cameras outside, only great things happen.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been out to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge five times. (I wrote about my first time in my last newsletter). Each round trip is about three hours on the road, but it’s totally worth it.

I can’t tell you how much it’s meant for my soul. GOING OUTSIDE, into nature, and taking photos is an act of self love. Of healing.

The research supports the fact that intentional, meaningful engagement with photography is good for you. And every time I come here, there are new stories to tell.

But I don’t think we need to look at science to understand that. Photography is our permission slip to do what we, as humans, are meant to do:

We are meant to be outside.

I would have never gotten these photos, or experienced the awe of nature unless I left the house and made the effort.

We are meant to be in kinship with nature.

Birds are CRAZY.

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I don’t understand why they do the things they do, but when I see something like this, I get all weird inside. Something unlocks.

These birds hold a collective wisdom we can never understand. Endless generations of these birds hold a collective knowledge of the universe based on eons of experience. They know simple things, like the sound of wind, or the weight of raindrops, matter a lot more than what’s in the news.

We say we need to view the horror of the headlines in order to understand the world, but these animals hold a key to living we may never unlock, even with our supposed superiority.

We were meant to find meaning in imagination.

How can I convey the erratic, mesmerizing, chaotic gathering of red-winged blackbirds in the Loess Bluffs wetlands?

I can’t… but when I look at these photos, I’m inspired. I remember the cold wind on my hands, and the surrounding sounds.

Our experience shapes our dreams, grounds our ego:

I’ve spent decades being selfish, chasing impossible, meaningless things. When the world didn’t bend to my will, or bow to my bidding, I’d rage.

And yet here, I can breath. The songs and sounds of nature are a welcome diversion from my heavy metal playlist.

My ego softens here, and I remember how small we all are beneath the same moon:

We are meant to be with other people:

MY PEEPS: Donna and Jeremy.

MY DUDES: John and Kurt.

I made a quick video to show you a little of what I saw on my fourth trip there:

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This is what it looks like when I’m doing a selfie and hear a big splash next to me, and I think it’s a monster:

NOTE: The photos here are mostly OM SYSTEM cameras - the OM-3 and OM-1 MarkII. There are a few with my phone, and a few with the Sigma BF.

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