I’ve never believed in coincidences, instead I’m truly convinced that everything happens for a specific reason. Often those reasons are not clear right away, but in time, it’s possible to understand what it was meant to be from the very beginning.
My whole path is paved of those kind of “coincidences” and looking back at them now, everything makes perfectly sense, even those events I once considered as misfortune.
The fact I’m an utterly stubborn person and a hopeless dreamer, for sure has helped me not to get too lost or, at least, to keep on going even after big downfalls; hurt, drained at times, but always looking ahead.
When I first listened to the Conception’s song “My Dark Symphony”, I was immediately struck by one of its verse:
“Even fire and ice
Leave a hope to unite
But this moment in time feels long”
That verse had/still has a precise meaning to me: even though difficult moments feel often never-ending, we must not lose our hope as “even fire and ice leave a hope to unite”.
If there is something all difficult situations have taught me is that we should always search for a little grain of strength and courage for keeping on. Always.
Listening to that song, which has come in quite a dark moment of my life, somehow lit a spark in my head and also a specific idea started developing in my never-resting mind.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to organize everything right away as, in that period, there were other priorities.
Time passed, many months passed and I wasn’t thinking about it anymore, until, I saw a photo of a cremello horse with amazing icy blue eyes. It immediately brought to mind the idea I once had listening to that Conception’s song and when I found out the owners lived nearby and the name of the horse was Helado (which means ice, frozen, frosty in Spanish) I took it as a sign. It’s not so easy to find a horse with such coloring, never mind finding it near where I live and with the perfect name!
It was time to start searching for the other model. A sorrel horse, with long copper-red mane and approximately of the same size of Helado. It took me almost a month to find the right match but after that, everything went unbelievably smooth.
The right models, the right place and the right season, with those splendid contrasting colors only Autumn can have, which is, by the way, the season in between Summer (fire) and Winter (Ice). Everything was perfect and in front of my camera there was exactly that image I once had in my mind, now turned into reality.
The emotions, sense of satisfaction and gratitude… well, I’ll never forget those feelings.
Once again, everything happened for a reason, for a better outcome. Have hope, have faith in your dreams as “even fire and ice leave a hope to unite”.
For this project I really need to thank:
Spat ’n’ Whiz and his owners, Valentina and Luca, Helado and his owners, Anne and Stefano, my super duper handler and factotum Alessio and last, but not least, Conception for inspiring me with their music.
