ISO 100 | 50mm | f 8.0 | 2 sec

Sometimes reality is harsh, cold, and unforgiving.  Despite our attempts to make the best out of some situations, we still cannot avoid the inevitable inconveniences, difficulties, frustrations, etc.  It’s times like these that we wish we could be somewhere else, walking in someone else’s shoes, alone and at peace in a “happy place” far far away from the disparaging situation at hand.

Escape is necessary at times.  It can help us focus and bring clarity to a difficult problem.  It gives us time to ponder and consider our next actions.  Unfortunately, many seek escape from the realities of life far too often.  They think that by running away, they can eliminate the problem all-together and never have to worry about resolving it.  They seek out temporary comfort, while their world slowly collapses around them.

Although we may all need to step away from a situation for a season, it’s important to not put off the resolution of an issue indefinitely.  There must come a time when we need to deal with the difficulties, face our fears, overcome the frustrations, persevere and push through the challenges before us.  This is what real life is, this is what it’s about.  We can’t shrug off our responsibility.  We must rise to the challenges and seek to find those “happy places” amidst the harsh realities of life. They’re out there, if we’d only look for them…

This image proved to be more challenging than I was anticipating.  I lit my laptop with a flashlight in a dark room with a long exposure.  I also had the landscape image up on the screen so that I could catch its reflections on the keys in the foreground.  Then I lit myself separately with two light sources (used a CTB gel for the blue light and a regular strobe for the daylight) and composited myself into the image.

The shattered glass was a combination of several textures I downloaded from http://www.cgtextures.com/.  If you’re looking for some great textures to add to your artwork, this is an awesome place to look.

Anyways, hope you enjoy it.  More to come…