Breathing Space

I lead a stressful life.  Most of which is caused by...surprise!!...myself.  When I remember to slow it down and find my peaceful place, I am invariably drawn to nature, and my camera.  For a time I was struggling to find my artistic niche, as it were, and I tried many different mediums.  Drawing, singing, playing piano....none of these scratched that ever-present, insistent ITCH. You know the kind...your arms are too short to reach and there is nothing around you to use.  

>.<

And then, I had a camera.....and with each snap of the shutter the itch eased.

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

My camera and I took a hike.  Literally.  We disappeared into beautiful places and documented every step of the way.  And you know what we found?  Beauty.  Lots of it. We found beauty in expected places, and in places you would consider ugly.  I signed up for classes to learn how to be better, but what I found there is that it really doesn't matter if I have all the state of the art lenses and computer programs, etc.  What matters is how every picture I take makes me feel, and if someone else sees beauty in it that's just a bonus! I could suddenly breathe again, even through rush hour traffic, disobedient messy children, disappointments, irritations, sadness...all of it.  I can be in the middle of Monday hell, take out my camera and just.....breathe.

Where is your breathing space?