‘Finding Light’

A Landscape & Nature Photography Portfolio by Brad Carr

Welcome to the gallery of Nature photography that represents the first chapter in my creative journey.

In the sacred dance between thought and being that I have been meditating on recently, these photographs were created during periods of ‘being’. The photographs seen herein, were actions beyond thought; mere reactions to the beauty and perfection of Nature that stimulated my sixth sense of intuition.

This first chapter has been a healing journey as much as anything, and 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. As I learn to love the world outside, so I do within.

The written part of my practice; the ‘thought’, has since followed, as I have been sitting and reflecting intensively upon what photography and Nature means to me. 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 along your own path to look a little bit deeper within, and reflect upon your own relationship with the natural world, yourself, and, in turn, the humans that surround you.