Nature Photography: The Pursuit of Self

We come outdoors on the search for photographs, but what is it that we are really searching for whilst out here amongst trees and atop great mountains?

There is something primal about the search - perhaps it is more of a hunt. In the same way that a man might once have packed up a bag full of supplies and gone out on a long, tiresome hunt in the hope of returning a hero with a boar in tow to feed his entire tribe, so the search for a photograph may bring the same kind of thrill and reward in the modern age.

Not only do we acquire a photograph as our reward, but we adopt new stories to tell around the campfire when we return, giving deeper purpose to our explorations as we carry forth the wisdom that we accrue for future generations.

The pursuit of the photograph has offered me, a once-directionless captain at the helm of a sinking ship, the greatest sense of purpose. Isn’t purpose something that we all need more of in our lives? A human being lacking in purpose seeks for nothing else but pleasure, and that only leads to one becoming disconnected from himself, gluttonous and greedy. What greater purpose is there for a human being than to hold in his or her hands the future of our species through the stories that they might choose to tell today?

As men, we have evolved to be explorers. To explore awakens something very deep inside of us. It puts us in touch with the wild, primal and sacred part of ourselves that still exists somewhere within, despite us trying to cover him with expensive suits and ties and chemically-produced fragrances to forget our origins and impress our peers. To explore requires that one tunes in to the forgotten sense of intuition, and goes where his innermost feelings lead. Perhaps it is through our explorations, therefore, that we attune to the highest versions of ourselves.

I first stepped out into the world of Nature very much a boy inside of my psyche. Although nature had always been a part of my life in some way, I never truly understood it or appreciated it throughout my younger years. Only through a period of self-study over the past few years have I begun to deeply understand the importance of Nature, and the role that it plays in the development of the human being on a spiritual and psychological level.

Nature has been the portal through which I’ve entered to access greater levels of self-awareness, reach new depths of my soul, and expand my consciousness.

The camera itself has been a vehicle that has transported me through time and space, back to revisit old versions of myself and forward to meet many new sides, too. Perhaps it is, that through this creative practice, I have been creating myself as well as the photographs themselves.

It is through this art that I have learnt to safely express some of the deepest and most vulnerable parts of myself, rebuilding my trust with the world following some turbulent formative years that encouraged the repression rather than the expression of my deepest and truest Self.

I am learning, through this beautiful process of creativity, what it means to be a human being - one that is living to its’ fullest potential. Having been a man that followed the path of the masses, unknowing of where I wanted to walk, it brings me the deepest level of fulfilment to be out in the world with reclaimed sovereignty - walking a path that’s my own, writing a story of my own, all forming from the lived experiences of my own.

With each new adventure, I am given an opportunity to create new stories and add pieces to the great jigsaw puzzle that is myself. Sometimes a click of the cameras’ shutter gives me an opportunity to leave parts behind. It is through the process that I become the highest version of myself and I step into my greatest power as a human being - that of the creator.