Originally, I took this photo because the scene was beautiful, but when I looked back on it, I remembered the conversation happening just outside of the frame, a moment far more meaningful than the picture.
This is my dad, sitting on the rocks beneath a bridge at one of our favorite fishing spots. It was taken the summer before I left for college, during a season when everything felt like it was about to change. As we talked about the adventures and experiences waiting for me, I realized just how much of my life was shaped in places like this one, with him by my side and a rod in hand. I grew up fishing with my dad; it was something we did regularly, something very peaceful and familiar.
Some days we would fish and say nothing. However, this day he looked at me with an expression I’ll never forget, a quiet mix of pride and nostalgia. Then he said the words that have stayed with me ever since; “You’ll do amazing things, but you’ll never catch the biggest fish if you are afraid to cast your line.” That memory is why I chose to submit this photo. It reminds me that a photograph is never just an image. Sometimes it holds an entire story full of lesson and bonding in a moment of transition.
