Yesterday my little girl Piper received a little history of her great-great grandfather, my grandmother's father, from my Aunt Chris, our family historian and all-around-wonderful aunt. Included with the history were some photos of my grandmother when she was young. This morning, I couldn't get this photo out of my mind, the look in my grandma's eyes, the softness that I knew even when her face was far changed. She was young like me, experienced life as I do now, in a different time.
I composed this image with a tulip Piper snapped off the other day, fallen, dried, bittersweet. The man in the photo, blurred behind the flower, is my great-grandfather, who actually lived in Charleston, SC, until he was nine. How strange to think that, in a way, our move here has brought me home.
I had a couple shots that were a bit photographically better today, but this was the one my heart came back to, the one that revealed a summer memory I never lived, the one that took me back to springs and summers and winters and falls with the woman who taught me so much about living, just by doing it, by having done it, the one that reminded me who I am, who my God made me to be.
You know, I have seen that look in my eyes...
6 comments:
Beautiful.
What a gorgeous picture!!!
What I love about this is the juxtaposition of the "faded glory" of the flower against the old photograph of a young lady. Poetry in pictures.
Can you imagine what kind of "photo-history" our kids and grandkids will have with the new technologies and the way to store them, print them, publish them?
I found some photos of my Dad's dad - my Grandpa Crawford - at age 22 and was shocked, amazed - he was the spitting image of my son Timothy! (or should I say Tim is the spitting image of my grandfather?? Which is more respectful?)
I think photos are slices of history, preserving moments in time, giving us glimpses of where we've come from and providing memories of times we experienced for our "next gens". Although I do wonder how realistic OUR histories will be if we PS out all the flaws - the moles, wrinkles, drool on babies, etc. If we're not careful, we'll be inadvertently rewriting our past - and not truthfully either.
Wow - what a gorgeous picture and sweet memories!
Thanks for sharing.
I love looking at pictures like that. They transmit a lot of emotion by just looking at them.
Gorgeous pictures. The one you took and the one IN your picture. *hehe*
Your photos and blog are beautiful. And how fun that you live in Charleston, SC - that's where I was born. I love that city, though I've only been there a couple of times that I can remember.
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