Water Under The Bridge Pt 1 of 3

Water under the bridge.

There has been a lot of that since my last blog post.

A year feels like an eon ago, and also at the same time as if I blinked and missed it. It is something that my mind constantly grapples with and never really comes to terms with. Time is a force greater than all of us and it slips through our fingers whether we like it or not. It leaves the mind furiously trying to catch up and comprehend its passing.

Anyone who knows me understands the tribulations the past year has bought to the table, but through it all, I have continued to develop and grow (I think). With the passing of Sapphire, I am having to find a new rhythm in life. I remain eternally grateful for the opportunities that have come to pass because of her influence but, it remains a challenge to be sure. And, with the coming and going of another birthday (yikes) it presents a good opportunity to have a retrospective look back on just how far I have come on this journey of “my photo artistic life”. Often done in relative silence as I do not really love to bring attention to myself, I felt it would be a good place to start for the first blog back… after all…. The beginning is indeed the only place to start……

To move forward… sometimes you need to look back……

2018 was essentially the beginning of my Photo artistry life, Dark Sapphire Pet Photography was slowly taking a back seat to the more creative type of work I was drawn to. Enrolling in Photoshop Artistry and then AWAKE set a new course for me and I will admit, at this time, I would throw all of the things all at once onto a blank canvas. As the pet photography door closed, another door opened.

It presented a lot of challenges, with a full-blown restructure at work leaving me as the only remaining staff member for a number of weeks resulting in a lot of long working hours. Working in Photoshop took a backseat at that point, as managing Sapphires pain/ medication and exercise came first and foremost upon leaving my day job each evening. And as the months went by the time I had dedicated to this became greater and greater. By Mid May her health took a turn for the worse with a Vestibular attack, leaving her unable to walk or hold her head up for a period. She bounced back from that, and in August, the sad news was delivered she was in Stage 3 kidney failure. Managing her diet became my singular daily focus, fresh food, organic and home cooked. Combined with the raft of medication she was taking.

Sleeping in periods of 30-45 minutes each night was as good as it got for us both, only to be repeated the next day. Putting it into words, it sounds pretty terrible, but we enjoyed each and every moment of the time we had left, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat for her. During this 11-month period, I picked up my camera perhaps half a dozen times only…

I am not a “wing it and see” kind of person, so through this period I started to make a few plans and goals I wished to achieve after the impending departure of Saf, it was important for me to have other things to focus on. But, how DOES one prepare for such an event? Simply put - you cannot. Little did I know just how much free and silent time I would actually have!

The silence…. The silence can scream louder than any voice ever could.

(Part two coming up in the not too distant future, stay tuned!)