Finding Clarity in the Chaos: Why I Photograph

In 2015, my life felt like a storm. Between a failing marriage and financial struggles, I was looking for any reason to feel alive again. I dusted off my old Nikon D3300 and drove out to a field near Tuxford, Saskatchewan, simply to take pictures of an old barn.

I thought I was there to capture a landscape. Instead, I found myself in the path of a tornado.

What started as a sunny afternoon quickly shifted. As shelf clouds rolled in, I was initially delighted, snapping photos and texting coworkers. But delight turned to terror when the winds picked up. Isolated in a field with no cover, I found myself sprinting blindly toward my truck, fighting gale-force winds while sand blasted my face.

It was a terrifying, life-altering experience. But after the fear subsided and the dust settled, I had a realization..

Finding Clarity in the Chaos: Why I Photograph

Surviving that moment gave me the courage to move on from my personal struggles. I looked at the images I had captured and realized that while my human perspective was clouded by stress and pain, the camera lens was objective. It captured the raw truth of the moment—pristine and unpersuaded by emotion.

That storm became a metaphor for my life: intense, terrifying, but eventually, clear.

Since that pivotal day, photography has become my form of rehabilitation. It bridges the gap between my artistic side and my career in nursing. I’ve learned that photography, like nursing, is a tool for healing. It allows us to process anguish, capture beauty in the darkness, and tell stories that might otherwise be lost to the wind.