Outdoor environments can be a form of therapy.
For one Iowa man, nature played a crucial role in recovering from a tragedy, an incident
that wreaked havoc on his family and later his own mind.
But the natural beauty surrounding our own Amana Colonies and its calming presence brought
serenity, and with it, a new chapter in the life of one outdoor photographer.
Among the frosted vegetation and wind swept trails surrounding the Amana Colonies --
David Heusinkveld: This reminds me of the old days because I'd be out there on the water,
not the water but on the lake.
-- you may find a quiet photographer searching for beauty and discovering outdoor inspiration.
Documenting every season of the year, David Heusinkveld frequents this scenic location,
recording the simple details of nature, a frozen lily or a milkweed waving seeds into
the frigid air.
Lily Lake is where David discovered his photography skills later in life and where he came to
grips with something deeper and tragically, much darker than a winter's night.
David spent 25 years Heusinkveld: It was a real tough group of
people to work with.
Carol Heusinkveld: You were good though, you were darn good and you had the record in the
Cedar Rapids district for lasting that long.
His wife, Carol, an Amana Colonies native, shared at the region's beauty with her husband
and later their two children, Jordan and Forest.
Carol: It's just a magical place being around in the Colonies.
The Mill Race or the Iowa River coming through or the trumpeter swans or the deer.
Summer, winter, it's just all beautiful.
On August 27, 2003, David and Jordan were returning from the Amana's.
Along a nearby highway an F-150 pickup crossed the center line striking the Heusinkveld's
head on.
Oldest son Jordan was killed instantly.
David, knocked unconscious on impact and bleeding profusely, faintly recalls the off duty firefighter
that applied a life saving tourniquet to his left arm.
Heusinkveld: I almost bled out.
I almost bled out.
It was within a few minutes and I would have been gone.
When David finally arrived in Iowa City it was by Life Flight helicopter and following
emergency surgery his life was spared.
In an instant, the Heusinkveld family was changed forever.
Carol: He was without oxygen for a long period of time and he did take a blow to the head.
Heusinkveld: It was a car accident.
Carol: Yeah, it was a car accident.
And you had several surgeries on your arm and the first year was just a total blur and
a total mess for all of us and we lost our oldest son and David's injuries.
And then you did go back to work teaching but it just, things weren't exactly the same.
And looking back now all these years it is, maybe there were some really early subtle
signs that nobody caught on to.
Over the ensuing months family and doctors observed changed in David's mental acuity.
Memory lapses, time gaps and confusion confronted the 25 year teacher who had spent a career
in classrooms helping students with their own problems.
David would later write, "I struggled with intense grief, sadness and regret and I felt
miserable.
I reluctantly retired from teaching and pondered what to do next."
David's search for answers led him back to Amana and a frozen Lily Lake.
Stepping on to the crackling ice, he discovered a new world below and raced to find his camera.
Heusinkveld: You can just see it, just every little detail of it which I thought was fantastic.
Lilies frozen in time.
It sparked an awakening in David and he began a new chapter photographing the Amana Colonies,
its farm fields, its landscapes, its creatures, the nearby miles long Mill Race and its very
special Lily Lake.
Heusinkveld: Nobody else was out there looking at them and Lily Lake is pretty big.
I can walk around the whole thing and get nice pictures no matter how -- I always can
get good pictures it seems like.
With it no longer safe for David to drive, he ventured out with the help of family friends
like John Johnson.
He hiked the fields, trails and countryside of an Iowa landscape best known for its German
communal heritage.
This newfound passion culminated in a published book, The Amana Landscape.
It is a project devoted to the region's history, but more importantly, to hundreds of beautiful
images all taken by David.
Carol: It's surprising but I just feel so proud of David for having done this.
Heusinkveld: Well, especially ending up -- having a brain injury and being still able to do
things it's pretty lucky.
David and Carol would later travel to book events in New York, accepting photography
awards for a man who never intended fame from a frigid trip to Lily Lake.
Heusinkveld: It's a blast.
Very cool.
Carol: When something shuts off there's something else that's there that can be found and can
be turned on and you can find your way out of the darkness and often it is through nature.
David had awoken something deep inside that didn't exist before the accident.
As the son of a famous photographer, David had grown up in the industry but chose a different
path in education.
Heusinkveld: She was very surprised about it.
I don't know if you've ever heard of Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret, that's my mom.
David's mother was amazed by his work, despite the ongoing mental trauma of memory loss.
After assisting in its publication, she would later say his book was a triumph for anyone
facing a mental or physical handicap.
Heusinkveld: I have a keen mind for forgetting.
Carol: Guess that's a positive way to look at it.
Yeah, your short-term memory is really almost non-existent anymore.
Heusinkveld: But I get by.
Carol: Yeah, you get by.
And we've figured out ways to deal with it.
It is a frontal, temporal lobe dementia, which is what the diagnosis has been.
And there has been somewhat of a decline over the years.
The journey for David is ongoing.
Since the book's release in 2012, his short-term memory continues to decline.
He now resides at an assisted living facility in Iowa City adorned with his favorite photos.
Heusinkveld: I think it's quite beautiful too and it looks like little things playing
in the water.
Carol: I think just going through what he went through made him see the world a little
bit differently.
Looking at these pictures makes me realize how incredibly special it is and I've started
looking at things a little bit differently when I go out in the woods.
I mean, there certainly were dark times.
We were in the dark times for quite a while.
And for David, this helped you get out of those dark times and really --
Heusinkveld: That's true, it really did.
Well, you have to have an outlet.
Carol: Yeah, and really discover and find something else to help you fill your mind
and to fill your day that you really enjoyed.
But Carol, his wife of more than 30 years, says David still yearns for day trips back
to the Amana's, back to the Mill Race and back to Lily Lake.
Nestled along the edge of Lily Lake sits a bench marked in dedication to their son tragically
lost more than a decade ago.
The first page of David's book has a similar message.
He titled his favorite sunset in memory of Jordan.