Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and let the day come to you while travelling. It’s one of my greatest joys while being alone on the road, there are never any must dos or must sees. It’s what I want it to be, and while there are always dozens of things calling out for attention, for photographs of, it’s nice to just take the time to really appreciate where I am for a moment, and bask in the opportunity I have to do something like this. I’ve never found it difficult to leave home, for I’ve always felt “life on the road” has been calling me toward it and I’m still unsure as to what degree that really means – but if I have to do this for a month, a year, two years or ten years to follow in order to find that out… I will. I walked for a few hours around Helsinki today, in search of nothing particularly, through many, many different neighbourhoods and past several differently styled cafes until I reached one that jumped out to me. Often times previously, I’d spend the better part of days taking time to really absorb the moment through many pages of journals & some very good cups of tea and it just felt like one of those days today.
It was really nice writing about events that have transpired, and circumstances which are beginning to line themselves up and reflect on those things. Wedding photography is certainly something I enjoy very much, and would love to continue but it’s not all me, and for a while, I thought it was – I thought I found ‘it’. But things are always expanding, and the perfect timing of this trip is just that… it’s sparked that desire of exploration, and not always being comfortable that I somehow enjoy. Along with those few things stay photography too. A lot call it travel photography, but the world is really just one and we are all really just one so it’s just… more less my life photography documenting the expansion that I seek, that’s all.
As often times before, I’ve stumbled upon – and I’m sure it’s no accident, many exceptionally warm & inviting people to share a lot of those… ‘cherished travel moments’ with. Like above, being invited over to Anna’s great aunts home for a homemade Finnish dinner. It’s funny how different we all think we are sometimes, when really, beyond communication barriers & cultural differences what we’re all striving for is joy & fulfillment in life. It doesn’t matter whether that fulfillment is miles away lakeside in a secluded forest cabin, within the country’s capital at a homey apartment, or living from a 75L backpack. All language barriers are truly broken with just a genuine attempt to immense myself in becoming Finnish for an evening, at the dinner table or in a wooden sauna. How blessed do I feel to have a home base for these travels here right now, and to be rendezvousing with so many of the right people & circumstances I’ve been hoping for… ohh, far beyond words will express.
There are so many payoffs each and everyday for me living life on the road, and I know that while I have perhaps found a few more of these here than I am used to expecting back home – I know it all had to come from within, and so really… everything we experience comes from within, and that anything will happen anywhere if we’re in alignment of receiving it. So with some travels behind me, and with many more well ahead of me – we’ll leave this here for now. I’m sure I’ll have yet another post full of inspired photography in a matter of hours really, and a thank you to my blog readers who keep me full of life with your comments on my far too frequent posts!
