I was taking a walk in the woods up to the cliff area of my family’s farm one day when I was 14 years old when I had an experience that changed me for the rest of my life.

As I stopped to look around at the trees in the landscape, a sensation I had never experienced before came over me. The ordinary trees looked strange, the usual sense of seeing things in three dimensions became heightened, and, for the first time, I realized I was within this landscape. The feeling I experienced was, “Oh my God, I’m alive!” Simultaneously, I was extremely frightened and thrilled. I wondered what I was supposed to do with “it” – this new knowledge that I was, indeed, alive.

A number of friends of mine through the years have told me their own versions of this experience. One friend called it “the awakening,” which I think is about right.

Four years later, I did find out what to do with this knowledge when I made a print in a community college photography class. I felt that the photograph held within it the sense of mystery and wonder I experienced on the day on the walk up to the cliffs. Once again, I experienced a heightened awareness of being alive, of seeing something quite extraordinary about my everyday life.

I have photographed ever since. The images here are my attempt to share what I think is beautiful, important and poignant about the world around me.

Contact

smforbes1111@comcast.net