Finding my way to the other side of Fear

Finding my way to the other side of Fear is a New Year’s goal for me.  I woke up early this morning and looked out the window. It was a rare, clear view of the mountain with a brilliant moon and dazzling little snowcat lights crawling like ants on the trails.  It was a magnificent sight. 

I have been wanting and waiting for an opportunity to take a stunning photo of Lincoln Park for our website Re-design, so looked up how to “shoot landscape photos with a night sky.”   I found a great article on Popular Photography by Stan Horaczek (including a video by Ben Canales) “How to: shoot epic landscape photo of the Night Sky.”  The video and article were inspiring with simple instructions. I setup my Cannon EOS 7D to shoot:

Raw images (a first for me – I always shoot .jpg)
Manual
ISO – as high as possible 6400
F stop – F22
Aperture – OPEN
Long Exposure:30 seconds

My inner voice was not happy with me and start spewing out negative comments such as “it’s going to be cold,” “you won’t get the shot,” and “you didn’t scout properly.”  On this morning, I didn’t listen and in my pajamas, I threw on a hat and coat headed out with my tripod in hand and camera in my backpack.  Of course, my inner voice was correct, it was a little cold, I didn’t scout properly, but what the heck, I had the need to just try.   After three different locations and :15 minutes of running around the construction site in the dark, I found a not so good location and took a couple of shots, just to see what would happen.

The sun was coming up and the night sky was quickly disappearing.  The shots were not that good, but they got better.  I was losing darkness quickly, so I adjusted the ISO to 250 and the long exposure to :10.  The shots got a little better.   I did not have success, but It was a good exercise for the next time.  Maybe tonight!  I also got out of my box which was a little scary but felt good even though the shots did not turn out.

I got back home feeling exhilarated, but a little frustrated, I sat down to review my “just ok” photos and the article “The Primary Barrier Stopping You From Everything You Want In Life” found its way to my screen. No Joke.  It was exactly what I needed in that moment.  The line that really resonated with me was “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”  “Pain, discomfort, shock, boredom, impostor syndrome, awkwardness, fear, being wrong, failing, ignorance, looking stupid: your avoidance of these feelings is stopping you from a life beyond your wildest imagination.”  Wow, that really hit the nail on the head! 

The universe is showing me the signs.  One step closer to the other side of fear.

Enjoy the Climb.