When Passions Kindle

A believe strongly in a few things. Peanut butter goes great with jelly. Strong coffee goes great with cream. And exploring new passions should always be cultivated. I think it’s so important, in fact, that I’m not even sure finding our ever-evolving truest core nature is possible without it. We are human. We want to express ourselves. We want to feel fulfilled.

I started college at Oregon State University with the idea I wanted to be a teacher. Summers off seemed like a no-brainer at the time. And then life does it’s inevitable thing and I experienced a terrible loss. A heartbreak that left me questioning both what I was doing at school and what I wanted to do after. I’m blessed to have a person in my life that is equal parts aunt, life-coach, spiritual teacher, god mother, and dear friend. I will never forget her advice as I turned to her, heartbroken and questioning my path. She asked me “Amy, what is something that gives you a spark? It could be something you have never even tried, but something that you have seen someone do that lights a fire in your heart?” I easily answered that question. Photography. I knew exactly zero about it except that a prior roommate had taken a photography class at a community college and when she had come home with camera in hand and an assignment for light painting at night, it sparked a curiosity and a heart flutter in me. Yes. It was an easy answer.

And so, literally the very next day, 3 weeks into my second semester at school, I went to the admissions office and changed all of my classes. Then I went downtown and bought a camera.

Telling the story of how I started my Equestrian Photography business over the course of the few years after college is for another time. Suffice it to say, my career has exceeded my expectations and then some. I will never give that up. What I will do, though, is keep my aunts words tucked in close during my lifetime, and always look for that little spark. The one that, if listened to carefully, will lead to an exploration of new passions. An expansion of this crazy little thing we call being human.

For me right now, that spark lies in stones and metals and torches and a bench. We’ll see where this new path will lead. I have a feeling it’s going to be good.

WINTER

It’s been a long one. I rent a cabin in Eastern Oregon, situated in a beautiful high desert valley about an hour from the nearest (small) town. I can get gas, mediocre wifi at the single coffee shop, and a few organic items at the local grocery store. Any more than that and it’s a 3 hour drive to Bend, in Central Oregon. It’s a special way of living if you ask me. You learn to appreciate the small things and not take for granted everyday amenities like a full tank of gas or fresh produce or a phone call (as we have no cell service). Even water sometimes, as we get long spells of below freezing temperatures and pipes tend to bulge and freeze and burst. We burn wood for most of our heat, wood of course that we cut. And we often times can’t go anywhere as the snow plows in the winter may or may not be on duty.

But I can walk outside my front door and watch the full moon rise at 5 in the evening and hear the songs of multiple packs of coyotes back and forth across the valley. I can wake up and look outside my front door and up the ridge in front of my cabin and see a herd of elk bedding down in a safe place for the day. I can hear the nimble wings of a bald eagle take flight off the fence in my backyard. On any given day I can go find bands of wild horses and sneak through the sagebrush to get as close as I can, and I’ve watched many of them grow up.. I can know the peace and quiet of the stillness between the hustle and bustle and even the words.

And for all of that and the things that invite more words that I have at my fingertips in this moment, I am grateful. In the next few weeks I will start to pack gear that I put away in October. Pull out cameras and computers and hard drives, and point the flat-nose of my van south for the spring.

I’ll meet you all there….where the sun shines and the hooves thunder and the hearts race.