I had no idea what I was getting into. Seven years ago, when I stepped off that plane. I had no idea.
I honestly thought that I was moving to Hawaii. I don’t know why, I mean, Hawaii was never in any conversation. For eight months I was in total denial, and just pretended that I wasn’t moving at all. There were lots of complications with orders and what not’s, so it was pretty easy to just pretend that it wasn’t happening. Then one rainy morning, five Japanese men showed up at the apartment and within three hours my whole life was packed away in crates headed across the world. When I say I was in denial, I mean that I didn’t even have a suitcase packed or the dishes washed when the packers arrived. Nothing.
I really didn’t even know where Germany was in relation to any other country except France. I just knew that it wasn’t Okinawa. There was no beach out my window and Lord help us all, it was gonna snow in the winter!
Yes, I had no idea.
I remember being in the car on my first drive into the area and I just looked over at my husband and said, “Is THIS Germany?”
I had no idea that the landscape would be a patchwork of fields and color. Little villages would be nestled in the valley’s and perched on the hill tops. Rows and rows and rows of grapevines would be scattered up the cliffs by beautiful rivers. I had no idea that the leaves would change and really make the mountain look as if it were on fire. The most beautiful sight would be my own little village covered in white with smoke rising out of the chimney tops like something from a storybook.
Wheat fields, old barns, tractors, dark woods, curvy roads…all woven together to create this texture.
The old with the new. The hard with the soft. The light with the dark.
-S
**This post is part of a circle of friends and other military photographers from around the world sharing their thoughts on the “texture.” Please click to follow Amy next!
