Traveling off the map...

"Never go on trips with anyone you do not love."
-Ernest Hemingway

We're prone to flights of fancy, her and I. On the occasion we find ourselves unoccupied, we explore the roads we've never taken and walk the paths that look most neglected. We take pleasure in the day trips others would find mundane or unusual or downright strange. Our last day trip led us to spend a good portion of the day in a colonial cemetery and other trips have found us in the middle of a forest high atop an abandoned fire-tower or sitting on a frozen beach in winter staring out to the icy sea...

Today we discovered a place far off the beaten path to explore and enjoy. The sun was warm, humidity was low, and we felt adventurous. We hiked, rested our feet beneath giant sequoia trees, spent time attempting to catch butterflies on the palms of our hands and tried our best to communicate with an enormous crow who perched beside us (to no avail...).

We take our time appreciating places like this because they're often forgotten to people living in big cities, like us. It's something that's so enjoyable but in today's world of commerce and business and alarm clocks, many people don't take this kind of day-trip anymore. The forests are such a fascinating place full of strangeness and beauty... these little things go unnoticed far too often.

...But we pay a visit. If you listen hard enough, nature will communicate with you. Not in some hippie kind of way, but ACTUALLY communicate with you. And if you give it the respect it deserves, it will welcome you with open arms and share its secrets with you. Maybe this is just a story about how we like to hike and travel and enjoy the outdoors, but it's absolutely true. With things being the way they are in today's world, it means a lot to be fortunate enough to spend some time amongst the forgotten paths and beneath the quiet and peaceful branches of an old tree that's seen more sunrises and sunsets than we ever will.

After all, there are more things in heaven and earth...

The other side.

"Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions."
-Edgar Cayce

If you're reading this, you most likely know a thing or two about me. If you know a thing or two about me, you know how I have a fascination with the dream world I spend much of my time in. And every once in a while, I find that my little dream world intrudes upon my reality. Lots of people call it Déjà vu but I see it as something different altogether.

Have you ever had a moment where you're walking around and suddenly it seems as though the world around you has shed a layer... the air seems thicker and you're more aware of everything around you? Everything seems 'normal' but at the same time you know it's anything but. The sun is a little too bright. The clouds too vivid. The ground seems to vibrate beneath your feet, almost imperceptibly, but enough to take notice. This is the other side trying to get your attention...

We all live in this dream land sometimes. It's just that some of us have forgotten how to see it. We wake up and have our coffee, go to work and pay no mind to the memories we made on the other side while our bodies slept.

What if more of us spent more time paying attention to our dreams? I go to sleep telling myself to remember what I see... to remember what I felt and who I met and where I went. When I wake up, I spend an extra few minutes laying there in that space between places where I can slowly return to earth and bid the other side farewell until my next trip. My travels inspire me. I believe everyone's creative side is rooted there... it's where your third-eye opens wide to take in the things we can't see here.

Open your eye and go on your own journey and take note of what your journey brings.

All aboard.

Brand new day...

So a brief update on my photo blog... As some of my regular readers (all 13 subscribers... woo!) might have noticed, the photo-a-day project has been on hiatus for a few weeks. I completed 365 consecutive days of shooting photos like a crazy-person and frankly, I was totally burned out on shooting and I needed a small vacation from the pressure of updating daily. I have a few left-overs from the 365 project that are thus-far unposted, but they'll be showing up in the near future. But as for current goings-on...

I'M STARTING A NEW PHOTO PROJECT.

It's going to live right here on this same page and it's starting immediately. I'll be doing photo essays this time around. And I aim to post one essay a week. Instead of the regular wordless snapshots I've posted for the past year, this time I'll be spending time with a subject and really exploring it, studying it, and telling a story about why it caught my eye and why it struck me as important. So check back often and see what kinda groovy stuff gets dug up here. First essay will be up within the next 72 hours...

-c