“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.”
– Ansel Adams

Back when I first began shooting digital images, I posted a number of photos from a cross country trip on a popular photography forum, looking for – I assumed – some positive feedback. After an awkward period of silence passed, one person noted that she had learned nothing about me from the work. At the time, I scratched my head, said “huh?”, and moved on.

Over time, I began to understand the wisdom of those words and importance of that feedback. Photography… any art form, really… should reflect an artist’s vision and that vision is going to be highly influenced by the person’s inner state. How could it be otherwise?

Case in point…

There is a lovely, forested area not far from where I live. I’ve trekked across those trails and accumulated hundreds of miles and thousands of images there. Ten days ago, just on the verge of an intense and anxiety provoking life experience… I shot the first two photos above.

Today, I walked the exact same trail and shot the second two images below.

Which essentially tells you all you need to know about my progression over these past few days. The “intense and anxiety provoking life experience” is still ongoing, but time, insight, and the accompaniment of others has…

… well.. you can plainly see it right there.