The Art Of Departure

I found my love of photography in the back seats of the red rocket in Toronto. Armed with my iPhone 4, I started taking photos to distract from the journey twice a week to my therapy appointments. As a locomotive engineer for Canada’s national passenger railway, the weight of too many fatal accidents had finally broken me. At first, I could only turn the camera towards myself, I couldn’t risk the unwanted attention but as the weeks turned into months, the camera slowly turned outwards. My own pain made me appreciate the hidden burden of others and the journey they were on. It signaled an exit of epic proportions from the death grip of trauma and the eventual desire to reclaim myself. Even though it was the worst period of my life, photography lifted me out of the shadows and I can’t convey how thankful I am for that. I said a final goodbye to the crushing heaviness of grief and closed the door on all that had taken so much from me. This is some of what I’ve created since learning the art of departure. (nb: these are true dx. One photo taken on top of another.)