Stepping Out

Over the years, certain photographs I have captured have come to speak to me. These are necessarily the prettiest of images or the most technically correct. Some aren't even that special, as far as a photograph goes, yet they still stand out in my mind. This is one of those photographs.

What struck me most when I first noticed this fisherman was where he was standing. Unlike the other fishermen grouping on the rocks which lined the shore, he was standing alone, away to sea. The tide was low, and the water within the lagoon was only around waist height, but still, I wondered what he was doing so far from the shore.

Walking out to join him, the depth of the water varied from place to place. Sometimes it was shallow and then suddenly deep. It was hard to tell where to step, the water obscuring the path ahead. Each step was a step into the unknown. When I finally reached him, I asked him why he chose to come so far from the comfort of the beach.

"Because this is where the fish are," he answered, almost dismissively, as though it should be obvious. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to his answer. We chatted for a while, I took his photograph, and we parted ways. It was only later that I came to reflect on what he had said. His was such a simple truth, yet the more I thought about it, the more profound his message seemed to be.

In life, it is too easy to remain in our comfort zone, hoping the rewards we seek will come to us. But as this fisherman taught me, sometimes we must step out into the unknown to seek those rewards for ourselves.