I had recently finished listening to an amazing audiobook by Robert Kiyosaki and it was fresh in my mind. One of his statements that really had an impact on me throughout the book was: ”Life pushes all of us around. Some give up. Others fight. A few learn the lesson and move on. They welcome life pushing them around. To these few people, it means they need and want to learn something. They learn and move on. Most quit, and a few like you fight.”
This statement was particularly true on this day for two reasons. The first being that I was snowshoeing up to the top of this mountain with my 65lb camera bag on. About 3/4 of the way up after stopping every 10-15 feet to catch my breath, I thought to myself ”I Sure hope the ambulance can get all the way up here when I have a heart attack”. However, it was the same state of mind displayed in that audiobook that told me ”You’ve come this far… only to see what the view is like at 3/4??” That was enough to keep me trudging upward.
The second time that this statement popped back in my mind during this shoot was when I was all setup in what I thought was going to be the shot of the night. I had shot several frames on my panorama camera, but the light and the composition wasn’t really doing it for me. I left the camera and decided to walk around a little bit with the viewfinder to see if there was anything else that jumped out at me. Sure enough, I walked over here and looked through the viewfinder. About as quickly as I could get the viewfinder up to my face I was rushing back to my camera and flying over to that spot to set up and capture the view. I had just enough time to set the camera up, I readjusted all my settings and fire the release cable. I took one exposure at 2 minutes and by the time that was done the light had completely faded and night was upon me. I am so happy that I kept fighting and pushed my way up to the top for this scene. Hard work is always rewarded.
See you at the top!
