“One foot in front of the other.”
That’s every hiker’s advice to their friend in the group who they knew was a questionable call on if they could handle the walk or not.
If you don’t give that advice, the person struggling could lose hope and get down on themselves, but also the rest of the crew would recognise their fate. That for the rest of the trip, they will have to help this person get through the ordeal... most likely by sharing the weight from their bag and lightning their load...or have to call off the trip.
Seven simple words can mean the difference between that feeling of awe atop the mountain or the miserable sensation of admitting defeat and turning around, never getting to see what you walked all the way there for.
Seven simple words mean the difference between growth and stagnation, success and indignation, pride and shame.
Seven simple words can get you through just about anything, and those are the words I repeated to myself throughout my journey from being a school teacher in New York City to an adventure photographer in New Zealand. __________________________________
I started taking pictures of the outdoors in high school, when I would go on day walks with my friends and family back home in the suburbs outside of New York City. We would walk along local bike baths, streams and larger regional park trails wandering until we were bored and wanted to turn back. Sometimes that would be hours and would go into the dark, but we always enjoyed being in the moment and feeling uninhibited by schedules and expectations.
When I started bringing my camera on
