Over the last few years, I have lost my passion for two things I love dearly- photography and writing. All of that changed with a recent trip to Kauai. As I realized this I decided I should try to find an outlet to express myself through the written word and moments of light captured in time through photography. I am putting together a special project that will hopefully involve many people, but in the meantime I am going to post some pictures again after a long hiatus.
Even though professionally I am heavily involved in making companies more effective through defining good process then creating operational accountability through the implementation of systems which create transparency through one source of truth data analytics, my undergraduate training was in Asian Studies and Chinese. Indeed I could loosely be called an amateur Sinologist and I love Chinese art, especially Ming-era painting. My favorite literati painter is Shen Zhou. In particular his painting "Poet on the mountaintop" is my favorite.
Every time, I see this painting I can't help but feel like I am transported to this incredibly serene scene where the "clouds wrap around the waist of the East Mountains." Living in Utah we have beautiful mountains, but they do not compare to the dramatic peaks portrayed in Shen Zhou's paintings. In the past when i have seen this painting I have always assumed that Shen Zhou used his artistic liberty to exaggerate the dramatic cliffs and valleys he so beautifully creates through ink and paper. Like Westley thought of the R.O.U.S.s in the Princess Bride, I didn't think such mountains exist. That all changed after hiking over 20 miles through the gorgeous mountains of Kauai. Although they were not the mountains from modern day Jianxi province which inspired Shen Zhou and so many other classical Chinese artists, I couldn't help but relate to Shen Zhou as we explored and soaked in all that Waimea Canyon and the Na'pali coast had to offer. It seemed like every peak, cliff overlook, valley and ridge took my breath away. Just when I didn't think I could be more impressed, the vista around the next bend would inevitably prove me wrong. I'm not sure I have ever felt so at peace and in awe at the same time. As we hiked, sat and even laid in a hammock stretched between two trees only steps away from rusted and emerald cliffs with drop-offs measuring thousands of feet, I felt so small yet so connected to a higher power I know is there but don't fully understand. Seeing, nay being immersed, in this lush landscape I truly saw the hand of Providence in its creation and felt closer to Deity than I have in any other situation. It was then that I understood why the Taoist scholars in ancient China found a life of reclusive seclusion and chose to remove themselves from society and live a life of solitude in the mountains. I only wish that my written account and following photos could describe these scenes in a way that you could not only see but feel the serenity in those mountains. Alas, I acknowledge that my pen is surely inadequate to describe this immersive experience and the sensor on any camera presently available despite our modern technology is too inferior to create the view indelibly transferred from my retinas to my heart during our brief time there. Nonetheless, I am going to try to communicate even the tiniest portion of my feelings through this experience. I hope you enjoy it despite my inadequacies.
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