"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read." - James Baldwin
Deep cut in cliff. Pentax MX, Ilford XP2, April 2025.
I think suffering is good for the soul. It creates depth, feeling, understanding, and of course, pain. And when the pain stops, the world appears quite vibrant, alive, wonderful. That is the best thing about suffering. The bit when it ends.
Afternoon light in river valley. Pentax MX, Ilford XP2 Super, April 2025.
Wild places often extract a toll from the visitor. Often it will be in the form of obstacles presented to us, and often in the shape of obstacles we didn’t expect. Despite our best preparation, the place may make us suffer. The place may make us pay for our mistakes. If we leave our boots out in the cold, they will freeze. And if we are out in the wild, even if they freeze, we will still have to wear them.
Wild places are inspiring, rugged and beautiful. They are also unforgiving and impartial to our existence and suffering.
If we are arrogant, dominating, and underestimate the challenges the place may present to us, we are more likely to suffer than if we go in prepared, and with humility. We must show the place respect. For me, this means taking the place on its own terms.
To take the place on its own terms means not to seek its transformation in order for our visitation to take place. It is also acknowledging that visitation may have certain impacts, which may degrade the landscape. So there is eternal tension there, and the challenge is finding the middle road.
How much modification of the original environment is appropriate in order to facilitate visitation?
If we wish to transform a place, to suit our needs, we have begun an interaction with it. The nature of the interaction is a reflection on us as people. What kind of effect will my interaction evoke in the landscape?
Edge of Plateau, panorama.Pentax MX, Ilford XP2 Super, April 2025.
Sometimes I ask myself, am I a visitor here, or a custodian?
One may venture that a custodian spends a lot of time in a place in order to understand it, to learn its ways and its needs. A visitor is someone who comes once and may never come again. A custodian is someone who returns time and time again, and notices the changes that have taken place.
But the beauty of visitation is that all custodians were visitors once. At some point, people ventured somewhere new and a foreign environment and slowly, they formed a connection with it, and eventually the place started to feel like their home.
One of Tasmania’s most visited mountains. Pentax MX, Ilford XP2 Super, April 2025.
…they paved paradise, put up a parking lot’.
- Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell,
A.S.- Brushy Creek, 31/5/24