As my mother said, “it is not everyday that you see something out of a movie.”

She’s right, the golden blue sky, the icy blue hills, the fluffy white clouds, the wind burning breeze, and the frosted brown grass; something you would only see in a movie. No, this was not a movie, just deep into Northern Iceland in 2018. A trip I will never forget, and a picture I will have forever. At first glance this was all I could think about, snapping that perfect photograph. 

My eyes were locked in on every detail that came into sight and then lost in the waterfall. Not that I could see through it, but I could see into it for what it truly meant. “Oohs” and “aahs”  filled the back of my head as I felt the freezing cold drops of water. Everything about this single moment was… “So perfect, yet so imperfect” as I called it. 

The grass wasn’t perfectly green like you see in all those movies. The ropes were torn up and looked defeated. The water was murky and brown from all the dirt and mud. The ice was muddy from people’s boots. So no, it wasn’t perfect; nothing is. Yet in a way, it was nothing less than perfect. 

I couldn’t take my eyes off of it: the perfectly frosted rocks, the contrast of color. Everything. It almost felt like I was staring into the calm before the storm. The constant rushing water took over all noise and it felt silent. The perfect opportunity; now was the time. The perfect moment turned into the perfect picture. 

It is a pity that a picture doesn’t nearly capture it all. You can’t see the splashes of water I felt, you can’t hear how loud the water rushed down over and over, and you can’t feel the stinging rope burn on my hands as I made it down the icy blue hills. All you can do is see. But it is so much more than that. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but no picture is worth a thousand feelings or a thousand sounds. But this picture, this picture is worth more than all of that. Nothing could compare, nothing could come close. 

There is one thing you experience from seeing the picture and not taking it: the pain-staking concentration I went through for the picture. What was the perfect angle? What was the perfect time? You get to see this picture with ease and let the emotions come to you; and that’s what I want to give you. 

A perfect picture for a perfect moment. No pain, no struggles, no effort. Just stare and think. You won’t see what I see and I won’t see what you see. That is the beauty of this picture, because either way it becomes the perfect picture for the perfect person.
So maybe you can’t hear what I heard, or felt what I felt, or even see what I saw; but what you can do is attach yourself to this picture as I did. Engraved in my memory forever, and so shall it be yours. 

The perfect picture for the perfect person, that you would only think to see in a movie.