At the beginning of October my love and I spent a weekend with wonderful wedding photography friends high up on the mountains in a little wooden hut. On Friday afternoon we arrived at the cable car station near the Traunsee from where we were brought up to the top of the mountain. Our bags were heavy packed with food we would need until Sunday. D and I filled our wooden basket with lots of fruits and veggies and made sure we had enough self made coconut milk and oatmeal to make ourselves porridge with cinnamon in the mornings.
We reached our hut in the early evening and were so excited about all the beautiful nature we were surrounded with when we found our room to be gifted with a window that offered the most beautiful view. After making our beds we all gathered in the living room to get to know each other. Everyone introduced themselves and right from the beginning I was so happy to be surrounded by seven other creatives from the photography industry. We headed out to get ourselves a meal at the mountain inn that was nearby. Not only it got dark very early, it also was freezing cold and so we made a fire at the fireplace as soon as we returned home to the hut. As time passed we were loosing ourselves not only in the coziness and the warmth that the heated living room offered. We also lost ourselves in philosophic talks about being an artist. We talked about our ways to create art, about all the passion we feel for our work, about how to push ourselves further and about how to go out of our comfort zones always. It was already in the middle of the night when I suddenly fell asleep in my lovers arms.
The next day we woke up to sunshine and happy people enjoying their breakfast at the huge kitchen table. We brunched for hours and continued brainstorming about business and art. In the afternoon half of the group went out to wander up the mountain even further. As I still had a cold and did not feel very well D and I only went for a little walk. We came across the most beautiful locations and I imagined stories of lovers I would capture with my camera. We had a little lie down before we were spoilt with delicious homemade food in the evening. After dinner I felt way better and was looking forward to the upcoming conversation we had until 3am.
Everyone was asked to think about a topic to share information about. So I prepared a little speech about how to always stay true to oneself and not to loose oneself in artwork of others. I talked about how important it is to stick with one’s style of artwork and not to let oneself be influenced too much by others. Though inspiration is so essential for creativity, inspiration through the art of other people is not always the best. I advised to look for other sources of inspiration. I told them that with the beginning of the upcoming week I would unfollow all wedding and wedding photography related sites on Facebook and maybe even my most important idols. Instead of being overwhelmed by the newsfeed on social media I rather go out more and look for locations in the nature nearby. I also want to start painting and writing again. It is completely okay to be inspired by other people but not if it makes one feel frustrated about their own work. That speech was not only for the others who joined the „Almtreff“ but also for myself. While talking I also was my own listener as I myself get caught up in moments where I feel that my work is not good enough. But the truth is – there is no better concerning art. There is only different kind of artworks. Sometimes it is just very hard to be confident about the art one produces. Every piece of art that is created is beautiful as long as it is made with love and comes directly from one’s heart.
On Sunday we left the hut just after midday. We made our way through the haze, that has come over night, back to the cable car station and were transferred back safely to the ground.
My lover and I left the mountains with so much positive energy and we were singing songs out loud while travelling home. We were dreaming about our future plans and suddenly I had new answers to questions I have been wondering about for weeks and weeks or even for months. On the way home I wrote down five goals I want to achieve by end of this year and I no longer would let fear or doubts stop me from turning my dreams into reality.
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