Beauty in Landscape

January 8, 2019 - I don't share most of the photos I take. I wanted them to feel like they were part of something bigger. A couple months ago, I cut a video together with my favorite film photos I've taken over the past year.

The man speaking is the late John O'Donohue in an interview with Krista Tippett, two of my favorite thinkers.

If landscape has had a profound impact on you, I think you'll understand what John means.

a silent conversation with Tulsi

I sat in the jungle with Tulsi, face to face, even though we’ve never met. The light was low and beaming through her leaves, a rare positioning of the sun in a jungle. We must have been up on a mountain or the light may have been coming from another source. The underside of the canopy above was illuminated and I inhaled over my mug. My nose touched the warm water. I felt full in my head, knowing that this ceremony would likely break through me. I took my first sip and tears began to flow down my cheeks, water sealing my eyelashes. I felt the Tulsi flow down my throat and shelter my heart.

I asked how I could work with her, how I could be with her guidance and wisdom. The Question—such a human way in! I asked if I could enter her temple, and as I spoke the words, her vines began to wrap around me. We became one. I felt safe— I was being hugged by someone I knew but had never met. Something that was a part of me. Maybe my Grandmother’s Grandmother. Maybe more ancient. I again asked how to be with her and she filled my body with the knowing. “I’ve always been with you, learn to make time for me.” There was no pressure, no judgement as to whether or when I would return to her again. More tears flowed from me. How can such a patience exist? She told that if I wanted to understand what patience meant, I needed to learn from the plants. “We drop our seeds. We wait for the rain. We push through the soil, reaching towards sun. We wait for the leaves to bury us. The energy, the power, comes to us.” Seeking & waiting, I wondered how the two cohabitate. She doesn’t have her own clock or her own agenda. There is only one Mother Time that maintains the rhythm. It does not belong to any one thing, only to the unfolding of each emerging Now. Lack of patience is a way of saying “things happen on my plan, on my time.” Patience is an act of surrender. If you want to learn patience, release all that you think is yours.

7,244′ ft with Brian

I met Brian while camping in The Badlands, he was moving from Virginia to Colorado. Our friendship started over the Ravens hat he was wearing. We caravanned together into South Dakota, where we camped in Custer State Park. We hiked the tallest peak West of the Mississippi. No that can’t be right. Let me look. “Black Elk Peak is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the Midwestern United States.” Close enough. Still pretty tall at 7,244′ ft (I’m clearly in a copy paste type of mood). It was some of my favorite few days on my drive to Alaska, hanging in the company of someone else who was also in transit.

The Ordinarily Beautiful Paintings of Dr. Berg-Levitansky

“I’ll do better, I really will,” Laila pleaded.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying, heck, they’d been going to couples therapy for a whole year (well, 10 months to be exact). A few weeks ago, Otto and Laila had sat in Dr. Berg-Levitansky’s office and discussed whether it was best for Otto to sleep outside for a while. Otto didn’t mind, there was an old-growth Elm in their backyard that he would often retreat to for naps. Plus, Laila was a blanket-hog anyways. Today, they were going to revisit the topic.

“Does that sound okay?” Dr. Berg-Levitansky asked the couple. Laila started to choke up, reaching for the box of tissues on the coffee table in front of the couch. “I just feel…” Laila said between sniffles, “It’s just not been the same since…” Otto noticed the painting above Dr. Berg-Levitansky’s head for the first time. He stared at the canvas. It depicted a lone tree, on top of a hill, with a gigantic moon behind the tree. It was acrylic—he knew this because his mom had been a painter. Laila’s continued to cry but Otto was in his own world. He squinted at the corner of the canvas and saw the psychiatrist’s signature. Otto realized that Dr. Berg-Levitansky had done this painting at one of those Paint & Sip nights, and he unsuccessfully attempted to hold in his laugh.

“What is so funny???” Laila said through her tears. Dr. Berg-Levitansky noticed that Otto was looking at the painting, did a quick glance over his shoulder, and with a beet-red face turned back to the couple.

“Sorry Dr. Berg-Levitansky, that sounds fine. I will sleep outside.”

That night, Otto sat up in the tree in the back yard. He looked down into the kitchen window, where Laila was making tea in her faded rose-pink robe. Oolong tea. It was always Oolong, even at night. He smiled as he remembered how they had met years ago at a coffee shop, where they had both ordered the same thing.

“Oolong! Careful it’s hot,” the barista shouted as they moved on to their next task. Both Otto and Laila had reached towards the cup, and in one of those awkward oh-no-sorry-go head moments they had locked eyes, and both chuckled. The memory of that day made him feel warm, like he was sitting in a giant mug of Oolong tea.

Otto laid down onto his back, being cradled by the large, curved branch of the tree. A few stars were shining through the leaves above and he took a deep breath. Otto thought about Dr. Berg-Levitansky’s painting in his office. Earlier he had laughed, not because it was bad necessarily, he had just been caught off guard. He admired that Dr. Berg-Levitansky had displayed a piece of his own art. Even if 25-40 other people in the class had painted the same thing, there was still a piece of himself in it. Otto thought about all of Dr. Berg-Levitansky’s clients who had sat on that same couch. Maybe Dr. Berg-Levitansky’s artistic vulnerability had helped encourage them to open up about their own lives.

Otto turned his head towards the house, where the lights were now out in the kitchen. He smiled, feeling back at home in the trees. He closed his eyes, and could have sworn that he could smell the pleasant sweetness of Oolong Tea.

Dave

In October of 2020 I embarked on a surf expedition to Yakutat, Alaska. We’d spend 5 days on The Milo, a decommissioned fishing vessel that had been outfitted to explore remote surf breaks. Due to COVID, most of the guests had to cancel their trip. Except for me and Dave. Dave lives in California. He owns a cleaning company. He’s got money. He’s got kids. Dave is an achiever and a hard worker. When I first got on the boat, I didn’t think we would get along. I was a delivery driver at the time, who had just spent 6 months living with my parents, and the last two months living in my van. I had spent all my money on this trip. Everything about us seemed different. But it was the captain, Mike, the guide, Scott, and the deckhand, Maya, Dave, and myself, so there was no avoiding being together. There were long hours between our morning and afternoon sessions and without phone connection, we were left to each other’s company. What happened was exactly what, deep down, I know always happens when you engage with someone else for a sustained amount of time. I realized that all the judgements I had made when I first met him were mostly incorrect. As we caught waves together and squeezed around the tiny table were we shared meals, our barriers began to wash away. He told me about his childhood, growing up poor and making a living for himself. He shared, with tears in his eyes, all the things his son with special needs says to him that reminds him how beautiful life is. That his whole experience raising kids has completely opened up his heart. I shared too, about my pain and my uncertainty. As we listened to one another we kept finding the threads that tied us together. I wish I could spend a week on a boat with each person that I come across that makes me think, you’re not like me.

all that is a home

Thank you for being a home to me, the longest place I’ve lived in my adult life.

Thank you for the eastward morning light that fed my plants.

Thank you for the view of the mountains.

Thank you for being a sanctuary where I fell in love.

Thank you for the moments on this couch, laughing with friends.

Thank you for being a gallery.

Thank you for the the meals, the self-taught guitar lessons, and the occasional bath.

Thank you for not judging me for moving on.

there was a time

There was a time when you’d walk around and explore with your mom. Before you had to go to school, before you were put inside to learn about everything out there. You’d arrive at the park and hop out of your stroller. You were in the world— at that point it was all still so new to you. It was time to explore, pick things up, make a mess. You’d stop for a snack, sit on your mom’s lap and share a sip of your juice box with her. The way the pigeon dunked its head in the fountain was the funniest thing you’ve ever seen. You don’t know why, you don’t even need a reason why. Your mom couldn’t help but laugh with you. Pure jubilation blankets the park. Enough for the business man to pick his head up from his phone, for one split second. Your mom didn’t want you to go too far. There was danger out there, and it’s not that she didn’t want you to see it, you would find it yourself, eventually. But on that day, she kept you close.