A Call into a Chilly Fall

My brother had found me that day crying. I was surrounded by boxes in the new room he so kindly let me stay in. I had just lost my high school sweetheart and the child we accidentally created. He patiently sat on the bed and let me howl about how worthless and lost I felt and about how much I wanted to give up. He gave me a few minutes to calm down and said, “ Grab your camera, Gab. Let’s go on a walk.” It took me a minute to find my old yearbook camera, I finally found it buried in an old box I honestly forgot about.

My brother, Cj, took me to a hidden nature trail right by our apartment. We were immediately greeted with a rusty red metal bridge with weather-worn grey wooden slats that we carefully walked over. Following the trail under a roaring overpass we were led to a quaint pond. I’ve come back here many times to find people fishing and giving feed to the ducks, but today the water was still, and we were left to enjoy the beauty all to ourselves. The pathway took us around the pond and changed in form as we walked; from auburn painted planks to cracked asphalt bike paths to pebble hidden dirt that felt like sand. It seemed to go on for miles. We stumbled upon an outdoor theater that clearly wasn’t used frequently, let alone recently. We reminisced about make-believe social situations that this beautiful theater held, and spotted another path that luckily guided us back to familiar ground; the little pond where I took the photo.

We got home and immediately plopped ourselves onto some beaten down hand-me-down recliners that filled our living room. I decided to break the silence as my curiosity took over, “Why did you take me on that walk?” He looked over at me and said “Well, I noticed that you hadn’t been doing any of the things you love to keep yourself happy and look at you now, you’re smiling again. And I bet that if you looked at the photos you just took, you’ll see what you’re worth to this world.” It made my mind tick. I looked down at the Canon Rebel I was gifted for graduation that now bounced between my restless hands. I just had to see if there was anything in my gallery worth talking about.

The first thing I noticed is that I was a little trigger happy on the walk, but that has never bothered me. It was actually my guru of the photography world, Mr. Sillito, that taught me that you could never take too many photos. This advice always led me to some amazing shots, but never one quite like this. When I flipped onto this photograph I couldn’t believe that it was mine. If I’m honest, I would have thought it was a painting if it wasn’t directly appearing to me on the screen of my camera. The bright and multicolored autumn leaves clung to their branches that reflect from the fish disturbed water. The sun kisses this spot and is captured in a completely unedited photograph. I fell in love with not only this photograph, but my life, and photography itself after this walk. I knew that all I wanted to do with the rest of my life is focus on all the absolutely beautiful things in this world, and show them to the rest of the world. I knew that all I wanted was to be the spotlight that lit up this stunning stage we call Earth.

After my walk this became a very special place to me. I came here all the time whenever I needed to see the beauty in the world or let my thoughts race about that very same crazy world. I ended up bringing friends to this place that were struggling like my brother did with me. It was a green land utopia in our cement city and it never failed to make anyone feel better.