Writing

I’ve wanted to write a book my whole life. I know I’m not alone, it’s a desire for a lot of people. When I decided to commit to this project earlier this year landscape photography played a huge role in that decision. But writing did as well. Writing is a craft I’ve dabbled at but want to dive deeper into. So as this project has moved through its stages of production over the past several months how I want to write about it has also changed. At this point the whole project is theoretical for I haven’t walked a single mile of it yet and what I feel during and after it may be, and mostly will be, different from what I feel right now. Regardless I wanted to start before I left accepting that what I write now may be irrelevant after. I think the best writers all have one thing in common, honesty. Honesty with themselves, with their feelings with what they try to say. There is too much surface writing that doesn’t ask of itself much more than entertainment. Landscape photography is like that too with a lot being simply pretty. And that’s fine, but language (and the visual arts) is profound and so why stop at the surface when it can be so much more. Honesty. To be honest with yourself is quite possibly the hardest thing we can do. We all tell ourselves stories about who we are, we hide behind masks and fear of being vulnerable.

As this project as moved toward its start date the writing focus has evolved. The Sierra Mountains has always been my magic place, like it has for so many other creatives. My first questions was why, what is this spiritual and mythological pull? But as I worked through logistics and refined my approach to this project other aspects have emerged that are just as, if not more interesting. What is this general societal need to be always moving, always entertained? What does true disconnection feel like in an era of complete interconnection? What does letting go look like, feel like, to me, to others? Am I truly what I say I am? What is the power in humility, in landscape observation, in traveling at my own pace, in removing the clock and calendar from my daily decision space? Have I ever been completely self reliant and independent? Am I running away or toward something? Why am I still not at peace with my parents death?

Honesty with self is the most important of all personal reflection.