I also love taking photos... I love hiking in the White Mountains... I love taking photos while hiking in the White Mountains. There is something special about pushing yourself as you climb over 4000 feet above sea level. For some reason the experience softens you. Not physically, but emotionally. You let people in and it seems to be a time to open up and tell others your
story. You tell them where you’ve been, maybe even the time you hit rock bottom in life, or the moment you knew you fell in love with your significant other who’s waiting for you at home to make sure you come home in one piece. My favorite hikes with friends, or people I meet up with for the first time at the trail head. There’s always great conversation, laughs and something to learn about someone else while taking a break to catch your breath or eat a snack. The belly laughing over some off the wall random comment or joke that took you for surprise is always priceless.
The only problem is, I’m a photographer. Hiking with a photographer is not always the best idea if you like to keep a steady pace. I want to stop and take picture’s of EVERYTHING! I’ve actually forced myself to leave my camera at home on a few winter hikes because I can’t hold people up in 20 below windchills at the top of a mountain and tell them “I know you’re cold but, I need to capture the view with my fancy camera!”
In the summer I try to go on a few solo hikes. These are times to reflect. I think about things and really get to know myself better. It’s a chance to stop thinking about wedding photography, or how I’m going to find the time to edit the last engagement session I did. In the moment I revert back to a landscape photographer and I’m there to enjoy nature.
These are also the hikes that take me twice as long. Once I stopped and had a photoshoot with a mushroom for 15 minutes because I thought is was the perfect shape and color (for a mushroom anyway). I loved how proud it stood as it was only a few inches from the dirt and bugs on the forest floor. I thought.. relatable at times.. I always end up having to rush down because I stop so many times on the way up. If there’s a waterfall, I’lll be there for a while trying to get the perfect slow exposure while bracing my camera on a sturdy rock somehow.
At the top though, I always make sure to put my camera down and take in the view. That’s
my serious reflecting time. That’s when I let go of all the grime and mud that’s been weighing down my soul as if I'm ringing out a dirty mop.
No matter if I’m by myself or with others, there is always a peacefulness while at the top. As I look out over a seemingly never ending vista of beauty and endless earth I think, there are so many people down there who have never seen this and probably never will. I get sad that they are all missing out. That’s when I grab my camera and start clicking in hopes I’ll get that perfect shot that shows off this amazing place we call home.
Check out my landscapes
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