I have often quoted, “A picture paints a thousand words”, and being someone who loves photography and the arts I am passionate about how something visual can speak louder than words. But this trip I have become aware even more so about what the ‘thousands of words’ mean? As I have marvelled and enjoyed capturing God’s beauty, I have been amazed at the words it has evoked in other people that have seen my photos. I realise, that even though I have taken a photo and it has revealed to me many words, emotions, memories, and joys, it is just the beginning of the power of the picture. For every individual who sees that one photo I have taken in my own context, there are so many more words evoked for other people.
Tasmania
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| Bay of Fires |
One visual takes them on their own journey, through their memory, their own wonder, their own discovery, that may have nothing to do with anything I have seen in that picture and what I saw when I took it. Again, the power of the visual. To have them relay back to me what they are seeing, widens my own view and helps me see more. This is the importance of sharing with each other to widen our view and deepen the experience. The sadness is that we often keep our thoughts and pondering to ourselves and those around us don't benefit from our words and feelings. The sadder aspect is that we have come to believe that the only one who can speak is the one who created the visual and so it is a one-sided conversation. It is like shutting down the words of others as if they are not valid and worthy to be heard.
But there is a danger to the power of the visual as well. Of course, I take many photos to get the perfect one, so in essence I am working hard to show you only my best photo, not all the blurred, out of focus photos that don't make it. There are so many words in every one of them, so many words in the process, so many words in the fact that sometimes there are days and days of nothing and monotony to finally get that high of a great photo. 
Uluru
Then there are also the words others add to my photos, that are not my words or assumptions about my experience that are not the truth. The feedback is that just because I have taken a beautiful picture of God’s natural beauty, that I must be happy and having an amazing time. Though the moment is captured and I am thankful and full because of the visual, that doesn’t always mean I am happy and having an amazing time. The power of the visual is that it can look like it is telling a story way bigger than I am really telling. It takes over and becomes its own story and the words I feel get lost.
All this to say that “life through a lens” is not always a true reflection of the truth. It can be the reflection you want people to see, or in my case it is the reflection of the God I long to live for, but confess I can’t always stay in. So often the beautiful picture is also a deep reflection and desire to fill a deep ache and hole in my heart that right now seems unfillable. Life through a lens allows me to capture what I would like my world to look like, but sadly so often it is not what is on the inside. This trip I have focused on the beauty of creation, His nature. It is something I have needed to feed my soul, and it does. Nature is a place where I feel ‘it is what it is’. It is not trying to be something else, or hide behind a cover, it feels tangibly real, when right now in my world, I don’t quite know what is. That’s all the words my photos are saying. 
Kings Canyon
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| Bicheno Blowhole |
“Isn’t is odd we can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside”
(Charlie Mackesy)
I am not wanting to complain about the words that people are reflecting back to me, they are real and valuable and someone else’s story. I am thankful that the power of the visual gives people thousands of words and takes them to special places. But it does make me ponder on the importance of sharing with each other. The importance of the whole story, not just the highlighted bits that make me look good. I do not want to be that kind of impostor, or mislead others to feel that I am having the time of my life. Because this trip is fraught with challenge after challenge, as all of life is and we must be careful to know that FB or Instagram only tell half the story.
Who are we sharing the whole story with, rather than the story we think they want hear? I am thankful for the few who walk closely with me and share all my words, the thousands that are good and the thousands that are broken and lost and hurting. I am thankful for the many personal messages I have had over the last year, prompting me to know I am not alone. I am thankful for the beauty of creation and the safe place God provides anyone who seeks Him, whether it be in nature or otherwise. I am thankful for community, that while I am currently on my own in a van, I am deeply connected to a community of people and who have shared thousands of words over the years and months, both the good and the bad. In fact, I would say that I only get to share these pictures and have the strength to do this, because of those who carry me daily. Yes, a picture paints a thousand words, but makes sure we are telling the whole story to someone, or the story is in jeopardy of not being real.
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