There Are Many Paths to Follow - Enjoy the Journey

A path. It can be a beginning. It can be an ending. It can be a road. An alley. It could be a winding river. A bridge perhaps. Even an abandoned rail road track. There are many ways to define a path. And there are many ways to look at them. I took this photo above in Denmark, in the city of Helsingor. I did not know then that it would inspire me to look for other paths to photograph. It was just an interesting side street that I walked past. I had recently joined the photo web site Flickr when I took this photo. I was posting all of my travel photos there for my own enjoyment and for a back up storage. I never really thought much about the fact that many people might see my photos on Flickr. I posted this photo and labeled it Small Alley in Helsingor. And suddenly I started to get comments on the photo. I was invited to add it to a group in Flickr just called Paths. In a short time the photo had 351 views. I was amazed. People even sent me messages about the photo. And this started my interest in looking for paths to photograph. The photo itself became a path. It lead me to photograph many other streets and alleys. And even now 17 years later I am still fascinated with taking photos of paths.

This path was at the end of a dirt road in Hawaii on the island of Mau'i. The dirt road itself was a path that led me to this beautiful path. At the end of the dirt road we found a secluded little beach. There are many quiet and inspiring locations like this in the tourist heavy islands of Hawaii. We look for these when we visit there.

Some paths can tell you a story. This interesting little crosswalk in Littleton, New Hampshire has a history and a story. The Disney movie Pollyanna was based on the novel Pollyanna which was written in this little town. The novel was a little darker than the Disney movie. It ends with the little girl Pollyanna getting hit by a car. This sign in the crosswalk has Pollyanna pictured waving and tells you to stop on the corner, Look, then wave and cross the street. Each time I see my photo here the path leds me to memories of the seeing the movie as a child, and also now it leads to memories of an excellent brewery named Schilling Brewery at the end of this street.

Some small paths are in big cities and lead you to beautiful churches. This small side street in Montmartre in Paris led me to the beautiful Sacre Couer. The photograph though focuses on the path with the huge over powering cathedral waiting to be discovered later in the background.

It took a long journey for me to find this path. It started in a junior high school English class where I was taught Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey and ended here in Wales at the actual Abbey over fifty years later. That small sidewalk is the culmination of a life long journey the see this historic Abbey. Looking at that path in the photo I am immediately transported back to my English class and learning to appreciate Wordsworth and then finally walking this path to the Abbey many years later.

Many paths are simple. Just a narrow dirt path and a small stone wall. Yet they are magical in their own way. This path led to an isolated beach in Maui. No crowds. No tourists. Just a quiet beautiful cove

I belong to several groups in Flickr that are just for paths or trails. Several require no people in the photo. They want just a path to tell the story. But for me sometimes people are as much a part of the story as the path itself. I can look at a photo of the Colosseum and immediate know it's Rome. And I have a lot of photos of the Colosseum. But to really feel or experience Rome all I need is a simple photo of a path with people dining in a narrow street. This immediately transports me to Rome. I don't need the crowds at the Spanish Steps or the throngs of tourists throwing coins in a fountain to transport me. I need a simple path.

Another path. Another country. County Wicklow in Ireland. Not a fancy or elaborate photo. But the path transports me once more. This one brings back childhood memories going with my grandmother to see the Walt Disney film Darby O'Gill and the Little People. It's a great memory because my grandmother did not go the movies ever. But for some reason she and I ended up at our little small town theater watching Darby O'Gill. And there are parts of that movie that are terrifying for a young child. But my grandmother was with me and it became a favorite memory. Not of fear from from the scary scenes, but a memory of being with her doing something special for me. That's the journey I take when I see this photo of the path in Wicklow.

I have a several photos I took of Chateau Aigle in Switzerland. It is one of my favorite locations I have visited. The Chateau is surrounded by a beautiful vineyard. I walked from the village of Aigle to the Chateau. I sat inside the Chateau and had a glass of wine made from the vineyards surrounding the Chateau. Just me, by myself. A wonderful quiet moment. But then I look at this photo of this small road that led me to the Chateau and that memory completes the experience for me.

A path can be part of a beautiful bright blue day.

A path can take you to a quiet reflective moment on the water front.

A path can take you out of a bustling tourist filled city center to a quiet hillside view.

And a path can lead you home.

I have not traveled since Covid happened. I have missed flying. I have missed seeing new and exciting places. But most of all I have missed the paths that take me away. Things are opening up now. People are traveling once more. And we have some travel plans for the very near future. Enjoy your journeys. But most of all take time to reflect on the paths that take you there.