A Reflective Thought On The World

Wasn’t sure how I’d post this image, or even discuss its meaning that much on social media, its from my recent visit to Scotland in August. Firstly, why bother writing or posting on socials has been running through my mind a lot lately……of course, i do so over on my professional wedding photography page (a sad reality a lot of work comes via socials now), but this page thats more just about me on my adventures in nature?……how much of my life do I want to give up firing out photos into the over crowded abyss….? It’s also slowly dawning on me that no one will read this anyway, or maybe a couple of people at most, but maybe I need to write this for me.

A quick comment about social media….having stepped back abit from this side of socials, it alarms me how many people are forced to behave due to algorithms, not only in the content they post, but in the format its in - i find that much creative control suffocating, and at least on this page, i just want to be myself, I enjoy taking photographs, not reels or whatever; alas the still image is being driven out of fashion by mega corporations, to which i say, fuck off, I won’t stop taking my beloved photographic images - it takes time and effort to stop and appreciate an image, sometimes more so than a fast hitting video, an art the worlds apparently losing.

Back to this image in question……and what it means & why this trip got me thinking…...its in a location a lovely friend of mine showed me, deep in the heart of natural Scotland, which turns out is one of the very last areas of the UK that’s still completely natural, not ruined by turning it into pine plantations or given over to abusive farming.

I found the whole trip unexpectedly life changing, or at least, directed my focus into being ‘awakened’ more than i was already……it never really occurred to me before just how vast the environmental destruction of the planet is - just look out the window right now, you’ll be hard pressed to find ANYTHING that isn’t “artificial” (by which I mean is there because some human decided it so)……..its been hard returning from Scotland to be honest & I’ve felt pretty sad of recent times. I used to see the country side as nature, but it isn’t, really, its farm land. I still adore forests but few exist that are not there for economic exploitation, and disgustingly a forest only has economic use when it’s chopped down.

To have seen a small glimpse of nature as she truly is, relatively untouched, completely as it would be if humans didnt exist was a truly mind blowing experience. I learned so much more about the environment than I already knew, or reframed things in my mind that I was aware of but never considered. My friend is a keen environmentalist & is one of the very very very few people actually working their ass off, day in, day out, tackling the climate, a thankless job that constantly feels like an uphill battle, not only that, they are one of the most environmentally aware people I’ve ever met.

Maybe I’ll write more on this topic in time, another friend of mine frequently writes about their daily adventures in the ocean, and how that has affected their environmental and animal rights views.

This trip has caused me to take a good long look at my own habits, and how i affect the environment - I was already pretty reasonable compared to most people, vegan for years, I don’t commute, when i drive for work i tend to stay around where im working so im not too and from…..I was never keen on flying anyway but learning the absolute annihilation flying does to the environment, I now choose to probably never fly again (it would have to be a life changing reason to fly for me now).

I’m switching all my products when they are used up to env versions now….i will also not buy new where possible…..my diet was already fantastic. My vice is of course my campervan, diesel 😬, and then the endless internal debate of any of us existing WILL have an environmental impact. Yes I can absolutely claim my overall environmental impact is vastly lower than almost anyone else I know, but its not perfect and i can improve it a lot. I’ve recently picked up a litter picking kit to pick up rubbish anywhere i go in the van (leave it better than i found it) - not to clean up after morons that need to grow a brain, but to protect the nature they abuse - also to tackle the complete bullshit that vans are the problem in nature - they are not, its cars in my decade of experience out in my van - car owners throw rubbish out the windows far more than van lifers do. My products in my vegan diet im trying to switch where possible to more env friendly versions (harder when I am allergic to wheat/gluten but i take steps forward) If you read this entire thing, do comment you ‘defo read this Ben’ in the comments section over on my instagram (https://www.instagram.com/benw...), I’m curious who will, I’m obviously leaving this here in the middle of some text to make it less obvious than the last sentence.

Diesel use? Sadly for me, unavoidable at this time, as I’m forced to exist under capitalism and thus require that i go and earn the imaginary resource called money. Again however i tend to not waste it….I’ll travel and visit nature combining this with work so not to burn fuel more than i need to (not least because the cost is insane now) - also its likely my last fossil fuel powered vehicles will be the ones I have now (yes I have 2 vans, one bigger campervan, one small micro camper, which i use as often as is humanly possible - sometimes however living requirements and cargo storage needs mean i must drive the larger one)……….however one day i do hope to switch to an electric version of the micro camper, and given i hardly drive unless its a wedding day I can plausibly solar charge that van, given its a couple of weeks between weddings on average - only in summer of course.

Anyways, rant over……as you can tell this one little place, where i captured this one little photo, has left me in a state of deep thought for weeks now - its already too late for this world, as everyone else would have to start doing this and most people dont want to, they’ll say they love the environment and then get on a plane for their holidays abroad, love their animal based foods while claiming to love animals - so yeah the worlds going to collapse sooner, rather than later, and I’m a hypocrite for still driving a diesel van occasionally, but at least it will make me feel mildly better I’m reducing my impact as much as possible. I accept I cannot exist without some level of env impact, but i can do something about the easy to fix things (like eating plants only), and I can be self aware of things that i cannot immediately do much about due to financial constraints, but i can work towards a goal to fix that (driving a diesel van, one day, an electric one)

Oh, as for the photo? What an absolutely heartbreakingly stunning place, i don’t think, I’ve ever been to such a beautiful place in my life, i felt most myself there, a huge thank you to my friend for sharing their world with me for a few days - i can see why you want to protect it. I can only hope my photography inspires people to protect it also…….rather than being the last evidence in the universe it once existed.

If you'd like to support me as a full time photographer & would like this image as a print, or framed print, please consider purchasing it from my online shop here:

https://client.benwalkerphotog...

Please, think about your own life and what you can do to steer it away from capitalistic abuse, mega corporations & return back to local community and environment first ideals.

No AI was used in writing this post, its all me, I’ve left the minor grammatical errors in place as a quiet form of protest.

#govegan #environment #photography #landscapephotography #Scotland