NOTE TO SELF

When life gets tough, I like to climb to the top of a mountain and suddenly the perspective becomes clear. In this modern world where distractions cloud our judgement, a product of our society designed to sell us the latest product. Is there really any chance of escape, or are we destined for this consistent descend in to the history books, where the majority are enslaved in their own prison. This thought plays in my mind like the latest song plays on the radio over and over until we begin to believe it.

Seeking inspiration is a must if we dare to achieve and rise above the standard's that have been set for us, and lucky for me the simple task of climbing to the top of a mountain gives me exactly that, a process that can be reflected by the life that we lead, as we start our journey with anticipation on what will greet us once we reach the top, and I won't lie, I have climbed mountains only to find disappointment once I reach the top, discouraging, yes, but a waste of my time? Not at all, because I have changed the way I look at the journey, it begins when I take that first step, not once I reach the top. My legs burn as I gradually climb, often made harder with a bag full of camera gear in the hope of capturing a moment, yet I appreciate every step. Ursula K. Le Guin puts my thoughts into words, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

There is an overwhelming sense of achievement once you reach the top of a mountain and the more difficult the climb the more I feel satisfied with what I have done. So what usually disappoints me once I do reach the top? For me it is usually to do with the view, maybe I am surrounded by trees to the point that I can't see the height of what I have achieved and other times the view just wasn't as good as I hoped it to be but for what ever reason, I am denying myself the sense of achievement that I could be feeling. So as I write this I realise this is really a note to self, to reconsider what I consider to be my summits in life, surrounded by empty promises and false idol's, it is all to easy to be disappointed once we reach the top but my message to me, is the same reason I climb to the top of mountains, and that is to regain true perspective of life, mine in particular, to rise above clouded judgements and find new hope in the life that I choose to lead because life is full of mountain's and though the climb can be a struggle at times the achievement itself is one I can look back on and say I conquered that mountain. 

Tongariro crossing found in central north island and pictured above is a mountain I have done more then once yet consistently takes my breath away and the visit when this image was taken in particular made me question how we could ever take this for granted, snow covered mountains, I am home, but this time I wasn't there to take photo's of mountains. With me I had two people and the intention of climbing this sometimes unpredictable mountain to do a photo shoot. As soon as we stepped out of the car to start our walk we were already winning, usually I wouldn't ask a client to go to such extreme measures to get the photo, but here I had two people from the big city of Auckland where mountains like this don't exist and are often over looked by the city life, in my head this was a perfect opportunity to introduce two people to another world and thankfully they captured the vision and it didn't even matter if we got the shot or not, because it was the practice of rising above the standards we set, thankfully we got the shot and as we pack up the light begins to paint the mountain's as if to thank us for making the effort, so in return I captured the moment with the way I choose to in an attempt to inspire others with my experience of what it really feels like to be on top.