Lately I have felt like a person from a cartoon that has a little storm cloud following me around above my head. Occasionally, I’ll run and try to lose the little sucker, but it always seems to find me. There are a lot of reasons I could think of for that cloud to be around, and while those reasons seem quite small and inconsequential I still found the cloud hovering above me.
Getting up early and going to bed late caught up with me. I had wanted to get up early to get more sunrise image but I woke up with a splitting headache. I couldn’t seem to shake it even after going back to sleep for an hour. I almost packed everything up and head home, but I new that I should go out and shoot here while I could. Headache or not I was in the mountains and that is better than being in Charlotte.
After getting back to my camp at Roan Mt. State Park in TN, cooked myself a VERY tasty omelette and tried to decide on where to shoot next. The combination of my early rising, hiking with a 30-ish pound pack, and full belly, however, made me quite sleepy so I opted to take a nap before making any decisions. Yep, that’s just what I needed, a nice relaxing nap.
Ever try taking a nap in a campground in the middle of the day?
Not so long ago I thought I knew it all. In fact one of my favorite sayings was, “Those of you who think you know everything are annoying those of us who do.” I also thought I was the greatest nature photographer since William Neil. I may not have been published as much or sold as many prints as “those other photographers”, but I certainly took better photos. “Once I catch a break,” I thought, “I’ll be rich and famous. Everyone will know who I am.”
Do you know what God does to the proud?
DING! DING! That’s right! God humbles the proud.
What you are about to read is probably the hardest thing for me to write in the past 20 or so years. I have been putting it off for some time now, not because I’m expecting it to be a literary masterpiece, but because I’m laying my dream out there for the whole world to see. What you will read (unless you click on out of here) is something that has been brewing in my mind, my heart, my very soul for a while. I’m finding it difficult to find the words to put with these visions rolling about in my brain. I’m also a bit trepid about making my dreams public since doing so makes it “real” and leaves me feeling a bit exposed. I’ve been holding back from sharing my dream, but every time I pray about it God reminds me that I need to take this next step before any others can be taken.
I used to think that a blank piece of paper was the most frightening yet intriguing object in the known universe. That piece of paper has now been supplanted by the “Add New Post” screen of WordPress. I sit here with a laptop on, well, my lap a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities that a blog creates and, also, excited about started out on a new leg of my Journey.
You see, I have all sorts of ideas lurking in the forest of my mind at any given moment but stalking one of those wild beasts can be quite an adventure. If I’m quiet I can sneak up on one and observe it for a while, but ,unfortunately, the process of firing up the computer often scares the idea away. I like adventure, though, so I resolve to set out into the untamed wilderness in my head to study these fascinating idea creatures much more often. Lace up your hiking boots and grab a jacket (it rains a lot) and join me for an expedition into the wild! Come join me for a little while on my Journey, I’d love the company.
Created & Creative by God’s Design,
Rich Nicoloff
Don’t forget to check out my photography: From the Journey Photography
