He looked over to me with a wrinkle above his left eye and said, "Yes, but the ocean is freezing and I'm getting cold!". He was right. The ocean was icey but the temperature was indeed pleasant. As I sat in the ocean waiting for a wave to come, it dawned on me that the winter was near its end in Aomori.
The mountains still have snow, but the snow is no where near the same. The trees are no longer dressed in its' beautiful white coat. The air is once again invisible upon every exhale. I've packed away my fleece driving gloves that saved my hands from freezing as I drove my car from place to place. It's not easy living in winter wonderland. There are many things you must do to overcome the blizzard cold temperatures. But by enduring and overcoming the extreme cold, you are rewarded with the silent pleasantries of winter. No other season makes you prepare for it like winter.
"Whooo Tom, Tom its coming!!" I looked ahead and saw a wave that entered just off the tetrapods and paddled my way towards it. The wave was quite small and didn't have a lot of power so every stoke matters. I dug deep to move myself in position to catch the waist high wave and once I felt my board locked in, I pressed down firmly with my hands and popped up and took the mini drop. I worked the wave the best I could and eventually fell off my board doing a backside top turn.
"Damn, that sucked. I need to 'ganbaru' more," I thought to myself. "I'm not gonna get any better if I don't 'ganbaru'". This thought quickly shifted my mind back to my winter thoughts. My body was on autopilot while my mind was drifting. Since it was my last winter, I made a goal to go out and capture the best winter photos I could so that when I leave, I wouldn't have regrets like..."I shoulda, I wish I woulda....." I wanted to try and capture Aomori's winter beauty in all its glory. I was challenging myself to produce images that I could be proud of for the rest of my life and be able to show people where I lived for what would be 5 years. This journey wasn't easy. I carried my camera gear everywhere I went and constantly had 'ideas' running around in my head. I discovered that the most potential, 'fantastic photos', really depends on timing. Timing is so important to photography. Being there at the right time really is what makes photos stand out. It's that extra effort you put in that end up rewarding you like no normal photo can.
If you are unaware, I'm quite hard on myself and I always believe that I could do better. I wonder if there will be a day where I'm content with my own performance. I don't think I will ever be. I hope you enjoy my 07-08 winter photos because these are the best I can produce at this stage in my life. I hope to get a lot better.
1 comment:
Post a Comment