Skip to main content

Wild Open Spaces

I’m often asked what do I see out in the places that seem so void of anything. To the untrained eye I guess that it does look void of anything. nothing can be further from the truth for me. I love the wide open spaces as for me that signify so many different things.  I’m not sure of how many people even read my blogs but if you are one of those people who do, then I thank you for going the distance in giving me your time.

We live in a society where everything is so on the go, people are always in a hurry . Rarely do people take time out and just relax, sit to reflect or even to slow down and the engage what is all around them.

For me I know I’m blessed to be able to do the above although there are times in my own life where things are so hectic  and more so on my photo tours it is very busy and it is  go, go and go again. There is so much behind the scenes that takes place , things that I have to make sure that need to happen for the tight ship to sail. Having said that, there are times when the tight ship  is not so tight and has a few holes in the sides and there area  few leaks, but still I manage my way through it and my guests are none the wiser.

Many may not beware of the next fact,  and that is, I run this small business on my own. I have no helpers, I have no marketing people, I have no one taking the bookings for me, I have no one to follow things up like many others have. It is just me, myself and I.There are times when I wish I did have outside help but that hasn’t happened yet.

My beautiful daughter is always telling me ” Dad you need to slow down or you’ll give yourself a heart attack.” What I try to explain to Tess at times that it is when I’m in the middle of nowhere photographing, that’s when I slow down, that’s when I’m at a stand still and there are many times when I’m standing in a field on my own  and just taking in all that is around me.

I just love standing out in the open spaces of this land and abroad and to allow the breeze to blow through me, to be able to stop and observe that which surrounds me. This is the one single most definitive moments when I feel so much alive. When I’m away from it all.

For Pete, I rarely go to the big cities of the world. Why is that? Well they represent to me chaos, madness and sheer individualism. They are too busy, to loud and to hectic to bring any peace to me. The picture above this writing would be a place I’d pick any day over an famous big city. Why is that?

We are all different and as I couldn’t ever be comfortable in a big city , equally there would be many people who would freak out with being in a place like that in the picture above as they would find it boring and uncomfortable.

We are all different and what works for me, is not going to work for the next person.

If i asked you what gave you the greatest joy in how you relax, we would all have different answers. For me it’s being out here and the other place is being along the coast somewhere. I find the beach, the coast line just so relaxing but that will be mentioned a little later on.Think about how you relax. Do you relax? Are you able to make yourself relax? if the answer is no, then let me encourage you to make time . If you do , you’ll be a better person, you wont be as stressed, you won’t be grumpy my towards yourself and others and you wont be grumpy to your partner in life.

You only live once on this earth as we know it and it is up to you to work out how you want to spend whatever time you have on this earth. You determine the out come, no one else can do that for you. There are times when we want change and yet we are too scared to take the step of faith to see if we can bring that change about. Yes it is a huge step of faith and I know what that is like.

I use to be a school teacher and  when I went down this road of wanting to be a photographer, it was a massive step of faith and yes it was scary but I just had to take the plunge. All of a sudden I was faced with the daunting prospect of creating my own income. That is the scariest thing. Any way that is another story, I have been side tracked a little. It is ultimately up to you how you want to spent your time. So how do you want to spend the remaining years of your life?

How does this old ruin fit into things? There are so many old ruins that I could have added and I may add one or two later. This single shot represents the immense joy that I get out of photographing these treasures that are scattered all over South Australia. I love them as I  find them in the middle of nowhere . Once I have taken my pictures  I’ll stop and reflect on life in this old ruin and try to image what it was like to be living there.

They would have made love, they would have had their arguments, they would have had the sleepless babies at night and so on. No mod cons like we have today, no mobile phones, no TV, no internet and so on. Life was as they knew it. can you imagine if you were able to bring people back from another era how they would be in totally shock of what we have now and how we live now.

I love these old ruins as they always give me a sense of peace and being at one with myself.

When I come across these wonderful old buildings, I see life within the destruction of the buildings.I have a strong sense of peace within myself as they are in the middle of no where.

If you have never stood in the middle of a field, if you have never stood in wide open spaces and just stood still to take in all tat s there, if you have never stood at an isolated beach to take in all that is there, then you will struggle to understand what I’m trying to communicate here. If you haven’t stood in these places, then take the challenge  and try it and you just may be able to understand what I’m saying here.

Taking this small challenge  may effect you in a positive way in how you spend your life and maybe might encourage you to re asses your goals in life and to make time more often to explore wild open spaces .Pete:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TO BE CONTIMNUED

Pete Dobré

Author Pete Dobré

There photography is self taught and they enjoy capturing what is before them and sharing that with the wider community.What delight them is being able to show aspects of photography that people may not have thought of before.They like encourage people to look at subjects in a way that they may never have thought of.To encourage people to learn to photograph subjects that may have been out of their comfort zone.To encourage people to see and learn how to see the detail in all of the subjects that they photograph.Photography is so rewarding as you get an opportunity to freeze that moment in time to marvel the wonderful acts of nature and the material world.Every subject has its own delights and beauty and they love it when people discover that and embrace it.

More posts by Pete Dobré