An easy example of elegance happened to me last week on a trail run. I was on the Virginia Creeper trail, located on the White Top mountain, VA.
Beauty and simplicity surrounded me.
I ran along a dirt path that weaved in and out of fields of wildflowers, grazing farm land with horses and dense patches of deep forest. It was one of those runs that you read about in magazines; one of those run that you say to yourself, I have to go there, do that run some day.
For me it was all a surprise as I had not idea what this run was going to be like or how speculator it would be to me. And the best yet, to use the words "life-changing" would be wrong but it's the closest words I have to describe this experience of this moment of elegance.
Then I ran upon an old railroad truss bridge. The track had been removed decades ago but the wood beams stood strong and preserved my passage over the creek bed below me. Before I could cross over I stood back and stared at the sight in front of me. Wishing I had a camera in my hand to share this sight with you. I will be going back in October of this year to create this shoot.
Here it was: elegance. Nature, man's handmade bride and time all working in harmony to give me this breathtaking moment. All the systems of beauty and simplicity right there in front of me. This is what I want to do, this is what I want to show the world but no camera, so I run along the trail waiting to discover what laid ahead.
When I came out of the forest and was talking with the locals about my experience and what I saw the first thing they told me was that they have hiked this trail for the better part of their lives and have not noticed the beauty of what I was sharing with them.
That conversation is what gave me the thought of “elegance of systems” in life.
Photography is the elegance of systems; seeing the beauty, with the ability to capture the exposure, to preserve time, to share the work with others. This is what I love about creating photos.
Art, Beauty & Truth
