When we experience a significant win in life, be it some form of success or achieving a goal, there’s a tendency to give a significant amount of credit not just to hard work, but also to luck. I want to say how lucky I feel to showcase my photography. However, I’d like to challenge this idea that it’s not really “luck”, but rather “serendipity”. Tomato, Tom-ah-to. To me, what makes serendipity stand out more than the former is it requires us to (1) show up in the present moment (2) reflect on the series of events, both planned and unexpected, that led you to that point in time, and (3) appreciate the people in your life that played an invaluable part of that journey.

 

The unexpected events in life may not always be pretty. In fact, they are often perceived as setbacks and challenges at the moment. It’s not until something spectacular comes of these instances, whether they’re an undetected minor adjustment or Patches O’Houlihan hucking a wrench at you with all his might, that we realize how vital each was to creating the present moment and resetting our compass.

​

This exhibition, and the photographs featured within it, are the result of finding something beautiful by leaning into the unexpected, the unplanned, and the unknown. Many of the images feature a single subject set between a wide, vast landscape being perfectly present in “an instance of this”. They’re the intimate periods when your mind mutes the world, time is suspended, and focus shifts perspective. The moments can come with a wide range of emotions - bliss, gratitude, joy, euphoria, nervousness, excitement, acceptance, euphoria, or peace.

​

I am proud to be sharing these particular images with you that are not only genuinely some of my favourite photos captured over the years, but that they are also the result of true serendipity. Each has their own story of how rolling the unexpected with a sense of curiosity and willingness to experiment (and fail) resulted in capturing not just a photograph, but an intimate instance of this.