After traveling the last 18 hours, I have arrived home! Ireland was amazing and lived up to all of my dreams and expectations (though I had set none). From Cork to the Wicklow mountains, I compiled a dictionaries worth of memories.
With each new locale I’m blessed enough to see, I capture some of the best shots through the lens of my camera that Michael bought me while serving in Iraq. It’s my dream Canon, and with it I’ve frozen some of my most beloved moments in time. When Michael died it began to gather dust. Taking photos brought me so much pleasure, and due to the “woe is me” attitude I had in the beginning, I wanted to enjoy nothing….even that which Michael knew brought me happiness. It’s a selfish act that still tries to creep in at dark times.
It would be months later that I took it out. The first shots were in a National Cemetery. Slowly, I eased into other things, and when I began to travel it would be all of the sights before me. Shot by shot a slight void was filled, a passion rekindled.
One thing I have done through the glass shutter is bring a picture of Michael with me and take a photo of it in a spot I know he’d have loved to see with me. Afterward, I place it in a spot to stay forever, a way for me to leave a part of him, as I know I do with locations that I never dreamed to behold.
Above is a photo in Finisterra, Spain after my 16 day trek. This past week I found two of the most amazing spots to cross my range of vision, Michael is there too. As it makes no better sense, since through him I have seen what true beauty is in this world. Not only did he give me the camera to capture so many moments, but the heart and eyes to perceive it.
Often while traveling with a camera we arrive just as the sun slips over the horizon of a moment, too late to expose film, only time enough to expose our hearts.
~Minor White