‘Finding Light’

A Landscape & Nature Photography Portfolio by Brad Carr

‘Finding Light’ stands to represent my quest for place and purpose in the world following my forging in the fires of an abusive and violent home. This home, although I am sometimes reluctant to call it that, for the first eleven years, was a place of utter chaos. The three father-figures that led the home at various points alongside my mother struggled to regulate their emotions, and could erupt into fits of anger and rage, seemingly out of nowhere. My mother often tried to protect me and my siblings from their unreasonable treatment of us. She still nurses scars that tell stories of her ferocious love for her children.

I spent many of my teenage years and early adulthood feeling helplessly lost in life, drifting around aimlessly, and following the crowds for the most part. After reliving some of my early life turbulence through a failed attempt at university and then through my early twenties, I finally began to take my life seriously. At twenty-six years old, I was awoken from my unconscious state following the pain of a first heartbreak. So began a long and arduous journey inwards; into the darkness to begin learning about who I was and the events that had shaped me. I have learnt upon my quest that my heart was broken upon entering this world.

For the past seven years, I have been scouring the landscape with increasing vigour, committed to my mission to create purpose from my pain, as well as the pain of my mother and father-figures, and those that stood before them, too. I have realised through my journey that this pain only continues until one generation begins the journey towards healing, and that is what I have been doing through my interactions with Nature over the past chapter of my life. The photographs that you see here are representative of the relationship that I have built with myself through the portal that is Nature. As I learn to understand my inner world, so I do the world outside of me and everyone within it. As I learn to love the world outside, so I do the one within.

As written in a recent article in my ‘Journal', I liken the camera to a bridge that connects two worlds.

‘‘As the fog rises from the valley beneath me and wraps itself around me in the warmest of embraces, my soul feels a sense of safety and peace. It is during these sacred hours, when the earth becomes a sanctuary of temporary silence, that two worlds meet, and I feel like I have returned to the home that I have been eternally longing for.

The camera is the bridge that connects these two worlds. Not only does it capture what it sees in the external world that is so familiar to us all, but it reflects, at the same time, the inner world of the artist; one that is completely unique and so often unknown and unseen, even by the artists’ eyes at times.

The eyes are a window to the soul, and for many of us, that soul has been abandoned and forgotten throughout our years here on earth. Just one look at the news headlines on any given day is a stark reminder that many of our bridges have been built so long that it is difficult for us to remember where we came from, and what we were when we entered this familiar world.

Another world exists inside of me, as it does inside of you, too, and it is in the safety of this inner sanctuary that our souls reside, buried somewhere beneath the wreckage and debris of our personal and collective pain and suffering, where they are left clinging onto and protecting our fragile innocence.

These worlds are our own original creative masterpieces; and many of us, myself included, have been so desperate to tear down the walls that have guarded these inner worlds from the demons that patrol the outer one for an eternity.’’

I have been developing my creative practice recently, with the intention of using it to pass on much of the knowledge and wisdom that I have received as I have walked along my own life’s path so far. Photography gives me the means to tell a story. It is a deeply personal one; it is a story of myself, but at the same time, it is a story of everyone. These photographs represent my quest for self-acceptance and self-love. It is a journey that I believe we are all on as human beings.

Perhaps these photographs and words will inspire you to look a little bit deeper within - to reflect upon your own relationship with the natural world, yourself, and, in turn, the humans that surround you.

Finding Light - Exhibition

I am delighted to announce that my seven-year journey to find my place in the world and create purpose has resulted in an exhibition of a selection of my photographs and writings in the prestigious Plas Glyn y Weddw in Llanbedrog.

The exhibition will be held between 11th May - 6th July 2025. Admission is free to members of the public. I would be delighted to welcome you along to be a part of my journey and to share love and respect for Mother Nature and her healing powers. More information can be found here.