Elsa Marie Keefe
patreon
high times
🕑 Added 2020-03-18 14:08:44 +0000 UTCthese images were taken around 8 thousand feet in the mountains of northern new mexico between the late months of 2016 and the early months of 2017...
i titled this post "high times," not because i was high at the time, in fact, these images were taken just after/ during the time I had decided to be sober from drugs... instead, these photographs were all taken when my body was physically high up, in the sky, living at an extreme elevation in Chama, New Mexico, just south of the Colorado border. I was living with my ex (technically husband) at the time... long story... overall it was a healing time, being and breathing in nature. Life was good until it wasn't. Living in the forest, among the trees, that is what heals me. The first portion of these images were taken at Heron Lake in the early autumn days of 2016, when I first arrived. The other self-portrait images with the dead owl were taken in the first month or two of 2017, along with those of my soulmate Carolyn. Dan hit the owl while we were driving to town late one night. I cried and then moved it to the side of the road. The next day we went back and put it in a bag to take home. I had to photograph it, so I did. Then I shipped it to Sandro in Chicago to do a decomposition series. Later that week Carolyn visited and we hiked up the side of the cliff. We took a few pictures, got a little lost after nightfall on the way back to the cabins. Somehow we made it out alive. Somehow i was born and I'm still alive.
Comments
Elsa Marie Keefe
Thank you so very much for your kind words and beautiful feedback. I really appreciate your support and understanding of my work :)
Thel
What I love most about these pictures is that you are an element amongst other elements. You are "with" nature, amongst nature. The camera lens opens to let in an enormous amount air, forest, water, moon, stone, and a human - one vulnerable human going through incredible changes. Knowing that makes me consider the changes of the earth and its creatures (like the owl). And that the results were healing - offers hope in your struggle and invites the viewer to do the same. TY
