Embracing the Dark

Colorado is littered with abandoned mines. Be careful where you step!

To be honest, I’m a little disappointed in this photo because it doesn’t do the experience of taking it justice.

It was about a twenty minute hike away from camp, and up the side of the mountain. I tried to leave myself a clearly marked path during the day, but by night fall it was too dark to see much.

But I made it.

The dark is unsettling. It’s hard to focus on what I’m doing. I guess that’s part of the thrill of night photography; you have to challenge yourself psychologically.

And something I’ve noticed is that natural dark is not the same as artificial dark. When you turn on a street light, the ground beneath it is clear as day, but the surrounding area is an empty void. In nature, there’s no light but the stars, and that somehow makes it less dark. You can see the silhouettes of the trees and bushes. You can still tell what’s around you. Even when things go bump in the night, your heightened senses recognize that the noise you heard couldn’t have been made by something very big so you’re probably okay. The fear of the natural dark is less consuming than the fear of the artificial dark. I feel safer in the darkness of the woods than the darkness of my own house.

I think the “Man vs Bear” conversation goes deeper than just women being afraid of male violence. Society is scary. It has artificial rules. Nature just is.

On the way up to the boiler, my headlamp illuminated a pair of eyes looking down at me. We both paused for a minute and just stared at each other. Eventually, we slowly maneuvered out of each other’s path, and we continued on. I took this photo still hearing it moving through the trees around me.

Respecting boundaries isn’t hard, and the dark doesn’t have to be something you’re afraid of.