I’m one of those people who likes to gaze at the night sky.
The Perseid meteor shower is happening at this time of year.
On the one night free of cloud I packed up my trusty Nikon D3200, tripod, a few torches and the usuals for nocturnal wanderings.
The skies were fairly clear, my camera set up, blanket on standby, I was all ready for a night of watching the skies and catching sight of Perseids except that didn’t happen. For whatever reason, stray cloud, light pollution or maybe I just blinked at the wrong time during the couple of hours I was out there I didn’t see a single one with my own eyes. Total failure. I went for perfection and didn’t get a wink from the skies… or did I?
My faithful Nikon was snapping away at things beside me.
I took a selection of photos, most of which had nothing to do with meteors. Each of them gave me a
The Moon. Sometimes we forgot about what we can’t always see. This reminded me that it’s still there.
Showing what it can do, even when the attention might be else where
The Moon heading towards the horizon, setting the scene, or stealing it?
Look again, top centre. Is that a meteor? What might happen when we widen our focus
The Milky way, with a visitor
What’s all this got to do with mental health you may ask?
These photos, these moments help to remind me that even if my preconceived idea of success isn’t fully met, if I don’t see what I want or exactly how I want it… That the experience can be just as great, if not sometimes better if I allow myself to look beyond my ideals and see what’s around.
Uncomfortably Numb 