Please welcome first-time contributor Nadia, a twenty six-year-old woman from Portland, Oregon, who has struggled with depression, anxiety, and self-harm since she was fourteen, and an eating disorder since she was twenty. Nadia enjoys creating photographs and writing, traveling and adventuring, and listening to and telling stories.

About this photo: “i took this photo late at night while stargazing. i didn’t think much of it when i first took it. but seeing it now, i see more. my serape is covering me because i instinctively wrapped it around me to hide my body. it is not something i am pleased with. i rarely even take photographs of myself. the serape is also the most colourful thing i own, compared to every other bleak and bland thing. whenever i am outside at night i look up at the immensity in awe. i realise how little i am in this world even though inside i feel massive. it is this terrifyingly beautiful darkness, around me and in my mind. i am not sure whether to be afraid of it or enamoured by it. but i am always reminded, somehow, that it’s there. this was taken on my canon eos rebel t1i, when usually i shoot on a canon ae-1 programme.”

Find more from Nadia on Tumblr.

**Visit Broken Light’s main gallery here ▸ Now a 501(c)3 non-profit! Please donate here.

*Facebook & Twitter @BrokenLighCo & @DanielleHark. Follow for e-mail notifications.