THE STORY BEHIND: “GOD RAYS”

In the pursuit of a holistic life, one learns that time and place are factors closely tied to the depth of an experience. That the soul connects to the world through our awareness of where we are, and what the moment is about. This is what comes to mind, every time I think about this torii gate in Japan. I developed a connection with this place during my first visit to the country. The decision to explore it again years later came as a mere compliance to the magnetic pull I felt towards it.

With this in mind, I rented a house just a few miles down the road from the torii gate so I could conveniently photograph it with varying light. I decided to ring in the new year here, as I thought it would make for the perfect place to start off the year. I had high hopes for an incredible 2020…at least it started off great!

On the day that I captured these images, I had not planned on returning again. I had photographed the torii several times that week and felt good about what I had captured, and my itinerary was leading me to a different part of Japan. It was time to move on. With a long drive ahead, I realized that the desire to revisit the gate one more time was too strong to be ignored. When I look at the images today, I know why.

As I approached the torii gate for one last look before hitting the road, the god rays had already begun to break through the afternoon clouds. I suspected that the light would continue and with increasing excitement, I parked the car and quickly prepped for photographing. Through a period of the next hour, the light and the rays shape shifted every few minutes, continuing to get better and better. I laughed aloud with my good fortune!

Looking at these images, it is nearly impossible not to feel a sense of peace and beauty, a moment whose depth cannot be ignored. This experience reminded me once again to listen to instinct and intuition. That our lives may be busy, but we’ll miss out on the beauty of deep experiences if we are too busy and too rigid to listen to the places that the universe is directing us towards.