This is behind the scenes of one of my favorite self portraits that happened by coincidence one day. I had drove into a city nearby and unbeknownst to me I left my wallet atop a paper towel dispenser in a gas station bathroom and left. About an hour and a half later I stopped and realized my wallet was gone and had to turn back around and get it. I drove back and to my relief, my wallet sat in the same place I left it completely untouched. I then walked out to my car as snow flurries began to fall.
We were due for a bad winter storm but it continued to be delayed and so I took one look at the bridge and decided fuck it, why not wait it out and see what happens? Slowly but surely, the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen began to drift slowly towards the earth. Blue hour wasn’t far away and understanding it was now or never I grabbed my camera bag and began off towards the bridge. In a little while I found myself atop the bridge in a full winter storm, wrapped up in an ethereal bliss. The snow fell slow and steady as cars rolled cautiously below, the sky fell to blue, the entire world looked underwater in that moment.
I set up my tripod and a self timer and tip-toed meticulously across the bridge platform to the cable, my first step on the cable and I nearly slipped on thin ice as my hands gripped firmly on each side. I stood face to face with the storm, a cathartic, calming chill covered my whole body as I stood frozen in time. I returned to the road that night eager for coffee and a warm bed knowing it always paid to go the extra mile. Every experience becomes a part of us that we carry forward into the next, like the snow we accumulate slowly until eventually we look up and realize how much we’ve covered and how far we’ve come. The joy is in the journey and the beauty always in the becoming.
