On September 12, 2020, I started as a participant in the mentorship program of Nature Photography by famous Dutch nature photographer Bart Siebelink. I wrote about this mentorship earlier on, see the first blogpost on this LINK.
The fourth meeting was held online on November 13, 2020. One of the assignments to work on after the fourth meeting: create a coherent image story of 6 photos within a time limit of 3.5 hours tops. Write down a short explanation along with each photo to make clear what role the specific photo plays in the story. With each photo, report the function that the photo fulfills in the entire series.
The image story was a real struggle for me, mostly because I had a traumatic experience just before I would start on my series. Part 1 tells what happened during a car crash right in front of me LINK. It also contains the first three images of the story. I will continue now with the next images to complete the story.
The fourth image of my image story:
I start to dig even deeper, up to the grain and the air bubbles that have been frozen with it. Going to the core. At the risk of my own life, my own existence, my essence, I made a choice in a split second to stand up for others. It was necessary. Everything that I consist of, my veins like grains, put me where I am now. Shocked but fully aware of the value of a human life. Almost timeless... I can feel it down to every atom, every bubble of air, of which I exist.
The fifth image:
There is something else hidden in the ice: spiky balls of ice, with needles covering the leaves. Stress stings my muscles, my breathing stops. The needles reach for me, provoke me. Leave me alone. But the images of that day keep popping up, stinging me. I'm looking for something to hold on to, to break off the needles piece by piece. For now they exist. The needles in the ice in the center of the photo are very visible.
The sixth image:
The ice melts and the water flows steadily over the leaves. That means I can let go. Recognize what is there, comfort myself, praise myself. Meanwhile, life goes on, just like the meltwater life flows into a new state of being. And it is OK. It is good to process it and see my own being in a new light. The fire remains, the power, as do the intensely red, orange and yellow leaves. I am enough. I exist and I am OK.
My image story is complete. I am complete. Thank you for listening to me...
