In thirteen days, I will board a plane and fly out to Livingston, Montana for around two weeks’ worth of photography and exploration. One of my favorite contemporary photographers, and a pretty good friend, Ben Lockett, will join me from his home in the UK. We’ll first attend a workshop centered around the creation of photography books, then spend the rest of our time seeing what we can point our cameras at. Likely a bit of nature and a lot of abandoned shit. Maybe some people, even.
I bring this up not only because I am quite excited but because there is a lot of work to do and plenty on my mind. Not only do I have to figure out what I need to pack, I must also pay for the Airbnb and the second half of the workshop. On top of this, Nature Vision needs plenty of work put toward it for the Fall 2025 issue, with articles only now beginning to come in, layout needing to be organized, and payments needing to be sent. There’s also all of the clearances, paperwork, and training videos I must complete for my upcoming job with the local school district. Phew.
As you can imagine, this is weighing heavy on my mind.
When I find myself in a situation like this, it’s difficult for me to not shut down. It seems like I would rather do nothing than take so much as a single step in the right direction. I know doing something simple, like my clearances, would help build the momentum needed for completing everything else — or, at least, as much as I can manage in a single day.
That doesn’t always happen. It rarely does.
Today, I knew I needed to get work done, but the overwhelm was too much for me to handle. Instead of allowing it to send me spiraling, I chose to go for a walk in the field. I needed to breathe.
Whenever my life gets too difficult to manage, I escape into nature and find that this primal connection helps better than anything else ever could. The field aside of my house, as I have mentioned already, has been a safe-haven of sorts this past week. With so much going on, it’s nice to escape into nature — even if it has more traces of man than I would prefer — and enjoy the simplicity of life. To watch the sun as it sets, laugh as the dogs romp around and through the corn, smell the dirt and wheat.
I could get into the weeds a bit, discuss some of the science behind this, tell you why we feel better around running water and how the sound of it helps us to fall asleep better than most other sounds. Not because I’m a scientist or have any professional knowledge about any of this, but because I have experienced all of it firsthand. And I read a lot about nature.
But tonight, I just want to breathe.
— C