Sometimes you learn something that sends you down a rabbit hole. One story leads to another, and before you know it, you’re looking at something familiar in an entirely different way.
That’s what happened when I learned about the ancient Iapetus Ocean and its connection to the salt harvested by J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works here in West Virginia.
Their salt comes from underground brine associated with that ancient sea, deep beneath the Appalachian Mountains. I had to know more. Then, of course, I had to order some.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the connection. An ancient ocean, these mountains, and something I could hold in my hand. Having lived here all my life, I suddenly had another way of seeing the land and water around me.
I had decided it was time to pursue something I had always wanted to do: my intuitive energy work. I closed the portrait studio I had run for 12 years and transitioned straight into my intuitive healing business.
At that point, I was ready to let photography go. I wasn’t sure what place, if any, it would have in my life moving forward.
But this discovery gave me a reason to pick up my camera again and explore the artistic side of photography I had wanted to pursue since getting my first camera 14 years ago.
That curiosity led to A Memory Between Waters.
The photograph grew out of my fascination with what water carries and what remains long after it has moved on. The salt became a connection between an ancient sea and the Appalachian landscape around me.
Creating it opened something up for me. I found myself wanting to look closer, experiment, and see where an idea might lead. Photography felt exciting again, with room to explore and create in a different way.
I thought I was ordering salt. I didn’t know I was finding my way into a new chapter of my art. https://beckynichols.com/appalachian-artifacts-store/p/a-memory-between-waters
