Renewal

Two years ago, my friend was in a near-lethal mountain biking accident, afflicting him with a traumatic brain injury. It was uncertain if he’d ever be the same person again.

Growing weary from a copious amount of time in recovery, he was determined to get back into nature.

After a lot of trial and error, together we executed this photograph exactly how I’d envisioned it. As it was his first post-accident climb, he couldn’t help but shed tears of joy!

For him, this wasn’t just about witnessing an incredible landscape or having an exhilarating experience, it was a step toward deliverance from the darkness plaguing his mind. It was an emboldening of his spirit to move forward.

Caves work beautifully as metaphor for the contrasting elements of the human experience: life and death, fear and love, known and unknown. We can’t grasp any of these concepts without the other.

It was an honor to be a part of his renewal and path to the light. As dawn broke that morning, his joy became my own.