TEREZUM

In black and white photography the forest looks completely different. I have been blessed to have a small forest near me in this small town and there I could practice my photographic skills. I am by no means a professional if that means to have my photos published in some famous magazine. I am just a woman that likes to link photos to her stories. My journey in the forest began as a way to find myself again after feeling sorrow ,abandonment and despair. Seing some flashes of beauty made me want to take a camera with me and take a snapshot of what I see.

Sometimes the light wasn’t perfect. Or it was too sunny. But if I saw something that I liked I pressed the button. There is a certain atmosphere in a forest when I am completely alone. At the beginning I used to sense a slight feeling of fear. Me, a young woman, completely alone in this vast field. But I began to trust myself more and the Universe while taking the journeys. In the end, I thought: I suffered the biggest betrayals and emotional hurt in the urban jungle. In this remote place….all I can feel is peace.

I like to look at the small things. At the shape of the flowers, of the pinecones, of the spiderweb. Nature reminds me of the need and necessity of simplicity in our lives. Have you ever experienced how it is to sit with the same thought over and over again and feel like there is no end to that constant rumination? Why did that happened to me? Why didn’t I react in a different way? Is this all there is to my life? And then I enter the forest and I have moments when all of this stops. And I can look at a spider enjoying his web. So simple!

I often wonder what stories would these tree tell me. They are so tall. When the winds strongly blow their leaves they sing me a symphony. Of hope. Of bravery. Of endurance. The trees grow taller because of those strong winds and not despite of them. Is it the same with life? Will I end up being grateful to all of my tormentors and consider them as my biggest teachers? Will they do the same for the moments when it was me and my wounded soul who tormented them? Will we all grow taller because of the winds of our egos shaping the trunk of our heart?

In a forest there will always be a million ways to get to a spot by following whichever road you feel like taking. There are marked paths. And then there is you. You can get lost. You can discover new ways. You can always choose how to walk in here and there is only one person you can blame if you do not reach the destination: you. In real life, in the urban jungle, that should be quite simple. To learn how to take ownership. Just like in the forest. But I have often experienced how much easier it was to blame on someone else my inability to be on my path. Is it about circumstances and people or about me? If I am responsible for myself in a big forest, why the presence of mere people in the equation should change the result? For sure many will give you hell in your pursuit of your goals…but now I came to believe that this is a simple test of life: how badly do I want it in order to stop making excuses for myself?

The forest keeps it simple: get good at navigating or enjoy getting lost. The same happens with the mountains. The nature never sets us up for failure, we do, when we go there unprepared and with a bolstered ego based on fantasy rather than on real capacity of facing the natural elements.

The forest teaches me how much I still have to teach myself to let go of everything that I have been taught in order to make life SIMPLE.