Words Are Hard

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and I for one hope they’re right.  

From a young age I’ve found it difficult to talk to people.  More often than not I struggle trying to find the right words to explain what I’m thinking or feeling at any given time. It’s frustrating and confusing.  But I learned when I was a kid, without even realizing it at the time, that I could use art as a way to express myself far more effectively than speaking ever could. Whether it was through drawing, painting and various other mediums art provided me a way to share all the thoughts and feelings I had without having to figure out the right words.

 

In September 2013, I flipped my car into a ditch and managed to walk with only a few scratches, bruises and a mild concussion.  I had people all around me telling me that I should be thankful and that I had survived the wreck for a reason.  There was some grand purpose I was supposed to fulfill and that was why I had been spared, yet again, from an incident that should have taken my life.  But instead it seriously messed with my head.  At the time I was taking a photography class and one of our assignment was to take a series of self-portraits from different angles.  The idea being to learn to see things from a different perspective beyond what we would normally think of.  The result was that I found that I could express all the feelings I was having trouble finding the right words for through the lens of my camera.  I used that assignment as a way to show people the pain, anger, confusion, etc. that I was experiencing at the time.  It helped in ways I never expected. Not only did it give me a to show others what I was feeling it also provided me a way to process some of the thoughts and emotions I was struggling with to.

 

Words are hard, but the great thing about photos is that they can speak volumes.  Because a picture is worth a thousand words after all.