The Beginning

They say a picture tells a thousand words and for the viewer that is true, but for the eye behind the lens there is another thousand words for not just that one moment, but the memories and stories around that image as well. These words don't often see the light of day and over the last 10 years photography has taken me to a lot of incredible places and filled my life with some real experiences, good and bad.

Here on Steemit I have decided to put forward these words and post my favourite shots along side my most memorable experiences around that photograph. This is for the enjoyment of others, to inspire you to see the world in your own way. To know that things don't always go to plan but to realise these experiences are important and how you perceive them is even more so.

I also challenge you to do the same, put to writing the tales of your lifetime. Give that memory eternal life, create the Never-Ending story.

I'm going to start with possibly my favourite photograph, one i look back to a lot as reference to how it should feel.
When I took this shot I had just taken on the biggest adventure i was yet to experience. Fascinated with the North American landscape I saved up all i could and jumped on a flight to California from my home in Queensland, Australia.
At the time I had just turned 19 and I would be lying if i said most of my inspiration hadn't come from the book and movie "Into The Wild". The idea of having no real plan, just a beginning and final destination appealed to me like no other. I was lucky enough to have met another Australian going to college in San Jose, California. Jack was a huge help in calming my nerves and setting the tempo for my trip. Not to mention being a student of San Jose state i was quickly welcomed into the American college scene, something that all those American teen films I watched growing up had portrayed quite accurately. Feeling like i had done my part in American Pie 9, I bought a van, said goodbye to all the friends i had made and took off west. This brings me to the first photograph, I had left the comfort of familiar faces and was now alone driving through seemingly endless roads hugging the Sierra Nevada. I was a dot on the map and i began to feel just that.
Just before midday on a Nevada highway i spotted down a side road, a group of donkeys far from any town or people. I pulled up, grabbed my camera and began walking down the road, I managed to get within 10 metres of them and while not wanting to scare them away i kneel'd to begin taking photos. This is when the donkeys found comfort in my presence and walked towards me stopping right in front and standing there calm and still as if they were posing for me, I took my photos with the beautiful Sierra mountain range in the background and in this moment I knew I was in the right place, I was doing the right thing by blindly following my passion into the unknown. Calm washed over me and although nothing could have prepared me for the next 3 months I walked away from that moment with a new view on what life should be about.