My wife has all of the classic hallmarks of ADHD. Focus, or more accurately, hyperfocus, and at the same time, a lack of focus. Example: Watch someone with ADHD try to remember where they put their phone, their keys, or the file they just downloaded. It’s fun. Then watch that same person spend six hours on a problem they actually give a crap about, without being impacted by hunger, the people around them, or the time of day. That’s my wife.

That second part has a name. Hyperfocus.

ADHD often gets defined by what it takes away. Attention. Impulse control. The ability to sit still. The clinical literature is built around the deficit. But hyperfocus is something else. It is sustained, intense concentration on a task of high interest, and people with ADHD, including my wife, will tell you it is one of the truest things they experience. She calls it a superpower.

And the paradox lives inside the diagnosis. The same brain that can’t handle 2 minutes of filling out an online form will disappear into building a cairn for an entire afternoon. Inattention is the part that gets talked about. Hyperfocus is the part that the research has barely touched.

Hyperfocus takes many forms for my wife, and one of them is displayed here. Often, the cairns she builds seem impossibly balanced. We have spent many days in Ventura, just off the main boardwalk, where people have often gathered above to watch her build cairns in the sand. One day, a man walked up to me as I was photographing her and said, “May I also photograph the artist?”

Racquel would never call herself an artist. I would. And on this day, her rock stacks were particularly awe-inspiring. A crowd had gathered to watch her build them. And this man shared with me that he owned an art gallery in Pasadena and that after watching her, he said he would love to bring in some rocks and have her do a live art installation. We never pursued it.

The photos you see here are all from the same day in Bariloche, Argentina. In the morning, we had taken a chairlift to Cerro Catedral. It was a glorious view, and there were glorious rocks. She gravitated to the rocks. Once she’s locked in, it’s hard to get her attention. It’s magical to watch.

When we came down from Cerro Catedral, we headed to a spot I had been to with the Tangilla crew before. It’s a spot below a bridge at Puente Arroyo La Angostura. While I wandered and took photos, she again focused on the rocks. The rest of the photos here are from that beautiful spot. She would likely tell you this was her favorite day of all the days we spent in Argentina.

Hyperfocus is indeed one of her superpowers. And when rocks are involved, it’s also one of her greatest joys. And it brings me joy too.

Jeff Turner

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