It is almost two years since I took this photo of my wife, she looks peaceful doesn't she? She wasn't, she was in a lot of pain and spent several stints in a hospital bed. These times came to mind over the last few days with my daughter being back in a room a few dozen metres away from where she was born.
I never really got to take all the photos I had planned of the pregnancy but, I took enough that they come to mind now and again as various events take place. I guess I have a photographic memory. I don't mean where I can remember everything but, I have taken so many photos over the years that my memory is spurred by an even to find an image that attaches to it. It has a strange kind of déjà vu vibe.
I have spent a lot of time and effort taking photos but, not a great deal on learning the techniques which means I have to work more from feel than technical ability. I occasionally get lucky and get something great. I would however love to spend some time trying to get better at portraits and especially using a simple flash as it is where I really struggle to come close to what I want. Portraiture is incredibly difficult for me.
Even though they aren't great, having a memory of who we once were and what we have been through can be a stark reminder of what we have survived. We can see the scars life has left on our bodies and seeing ourselves in the past can bring to mind and body the feelings of those times, like we have been transported back to those moments and get a chance to relive them knowing what we know now.
i wonder if we had photos of the hardest times in our lives we could revisit them and process them again to come to terms with them, learn lesson that we may have missed, mend the damages that were done and rebuild ourselves to be empowered by the experience, not oppressed. Our memories of the past have the tendency to become the baggage of our present and guide our steps into the future.
We carry so much with us bat rarely do we consider if the burden is ours to bear and if our experience of life would be better if we acknowledged it for what it is, set it down on the side of our pathway, and moved on. When we carry something for so long, it is easy to become attached and identify with something that is not ours at all.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]