Photography as a way to get on with the universe

The universe doesn’t care about us. That’s not pessimism; it’s physics. We’re pattern-seeking creatures dropped into a system operating on principles entirely indifferent to human comfort. Entropy increases, complexity spirals, and meaning is something we have to manufacture ourselves because the cosmos isn’t providing it. For a long time I didn’t have a practical way to live with that fact. Photography became one. Haybale and farm equipment Lifting a camera to your eye is an assertion. In a universe that sprawls infinitely in every direction, the act of framing says: this, right here, is worth attending to. The chaos doesn’t disappear; you’ve simply carved a small territory where you can see clearly enough to operate. Mountains were obstacles before I started photographing them properly. Forests were clutter, beautiful in their way but fundamentally alien: systems running on their own logic with no interest in mine. Photographing them required slowing down, and slowing down meant…