One summer day, I went to a birch forest to be alone with nature, but nature decided I needed a little bit of country life.
I often leave the city for solo walks because I enjoy solitude — not as an escape, but as a chance to step away from daily routine and let my thoughts wander.
To walk silently in the quiet. To photograph something beautiful.
And in summer, these walks are twice as pleasant.
Anyway, it happened a few years ago. I was walking through a sunlit forest, capturing birches, when suddenly a herd of cows and sheep appeared.
They moved quietly and calmly, with no particular hurry, grazing on the grass, perhaps lost in their own thoughts.
Some even stepped forward as if to pose, as though they knew someone was watching.
And then he appeared — the shepherd. Young, sitting confidently in the saddle, a whip in one hand and a Bluetooth earpiece.
Almost without a sound or any fuss, the herd made its way to the forest's edge.
Everything unfolded with a quiet rhythm, following its own unspoken rules. The herd walked obediently where it needed to go, and the shepherd seemed simply to follow along.
They disappeared into the meadows. The forest grew still again, and I was once more alone with myself and nature. What else is there to say? Anyone who knows how to be alone is never truly lonely.
Thank you so much for reading!
Southern Ural, Russia.
July, 2022.
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