Spirituality of nature.......

One of my favorite things about photography is looking for a way to connect to the landscapes that i am photographing in an emotional and spiritual way. I love to in a sense pour myself into my work, to find a way to not only pull my viewer into the moment but to also find a way to experience that connection that i felt while shooting the photo. Sometimes the connection is made easily, other times i have to really slow down take in my surroundings breathe the air and step back to think about why im photographing what is in front of my camera. This last trip to the Big Island i was blessed to have an experience that was so incredible that finding that spiritual connection came effortlessly. It wasnt so much because i found that connection easily but because this place was so saturated with it that it just hit me like a wall of bricks. I am talking about my visit to the Kalapana lava flow, in 2008 i posted a blog about our 1st visit there. We could do little more that watch it from a distance, but the experience was an incredible one and one that stayed with me long after we left the island. Since then i have dreamed about getting closer, watching documentaries on volcanoes or on hawaii i would always think "i want to be that close!" Little did i know that i would be blessed enough to get that close, to see something that few people get to see. Through a (ill call him a contact, but really consider him a friend) i made on the island who has access to the flow we were able to go out there. Ill leave out all the details about our preparation to go out there, but will say that we left our hotel at 2:30am and hiked for over an hour to get to the flow. Hiking in the dark over sharp and uneven lava rock is grueling work. Halfway there I was tired and already out of breath but we pushed onward, finally after what seemed like an eternity we arrived. I was not prepared, not at all, not for this, it hit me all at once. i had seen this before but from a distance and even then i was not prepared. I was in the presence of something incredible, something so much bigger than me, something that i could not fully understand. That spiritual and emotional connection to this place was instant, i had to stop and soak it all in, i have dreamed about being here.......and now here i was finally and it had overtaken me. How can you do anything else but humble yourself in the presence of such power, how do you feel anything besides tiny knowing full well that one bad step can cost you your life. This place demands your respect as soon as you get there not just because of its destructive power but the knowledge that much of what you are walking on is ancient ground. You cant help but reflect on the Hawaiians that 1st lived here and lived in the presence of the volcano, respecting and even worshipping its power. This place has deep spiritual tones coursing through it and in the few seconds that i had been there it had overwhelmed me. The deep red glow of the lava in the darkness of the night, the sound of it moving and of it crystalizing as it began to immediately cool when it met the surrounding air. The thing that stands out the most though is the heat, oh man the heat! It hits you like a wall, sometimes just carried by the breeze, other times you try to get close for a shot and you hit a wall of pure invisible fire. It feels like your skin is burning off and you just cant keep moving forward. Your body is completely unprepared for it as well as the heat saps away every ounce of water and energy that you have, i have never drank so much water and gatorade in my entire life and still i was dehydrated. The movement and fluidity of the lava is mesmerizing, it captures your imagination immediately and you cant help but just sit there and stare. Most intriguing of all is thinking that this molten material is what is coursing deep beneath the planet and yet here it is flowing on the surface right before my eyes. It claims everything in its path, many have lost their homes to the volcano and yet despite its ability to destroy it also has the ability to create. As the lava cools it creates new land, over time the rock gets broken down and it becomes incredibly fertile soil. Thousands of years from now when the volcano stops its eruptions all that land will be dense jungles, even now there is a new island being formed underwater...........the process is endless and incredible. It was all i could do to contain my excitement and keep focused on the task at hand. Eventually the light of the sun became way to harsh and it was time to go, it was difficult to say goodbye and you have to fight the feeling to just stay and capture a little more. The hike back was long and i was exhausted, finally back at the car we rested for a little bit. In the coolness of the shade we had found i sat and reflected on our journey. It seemed like a dream or a distant memory from many years ago and yet it had just began hours ago. The affects of this incredible place are undeniable, it has sparked my imagination and an insatiable hunger.......i must go back, i must see more, i must capture more but most of all i must prepare myself. I must keep that respect and not lose my wonder, someday soon i hope i will return and be in awe once again in the presence of Pele.

Addendum: Concern has been expressed over this latest blog post that it sounds like i worship the Hawaiian goddess Pele. I assure you that nothing could be farther from the truth, while the tone and the closing lines of what i have written may lead you to believe that i do i can tell you with certainty that it was not what was intended. I believe that we live in a world of ignorance, where we are so focused on making our point or shoving our beliefs down each others throats that we forget that respect for one another and diplomacy are much more powerful "weapons" than the best laid argument. I do not worship multiple gods or nature for that matter, but i do understand that the hawaiian people are deeply spiritual, have ties to their lands and to their ancestors and respect the "spirituality" of their surroundings. I dont believe in everything that they do but i do respect them and honor their beliefs, i think that this above all else has been the biggest reason why so many hawaiians have accepted me or treat me like i am a local while i am there. As for spirituality in nature, i fully understand that i am looking at something that was created, i dont worship this nor do i claim that it gets me closer to God. I do admire the craftsmanship of the creator through it and will say that i helps me to reflect upon my own existence. It helps me to understand just how truly small i am in the grand scheme of things, that i am just a small speck on this world and yet despite this fact i am loved above all else by the ONE who created it all. That......to me is amazing and humbling.......