The Birth of Something

I went on a walk today, and it occurred to me…people don’t stay still.

Brilliant, huh? 37 years of my life have moved on, and I just realized, people don’t stay still. Things don’t stay still.

About this walk. My husband has experienced a rebirth as a hunter. He gets up at 4 am, spends hours in the woods (a hillbilly, my cousin calls him), and raves about it. Not what he’s shot (for then he knows I will not eat it), but raves about what he’s seen. So, I’ve started hunting. With my camera. A Leica R6 inherited from my dear father-in-law.

Yesterday was his day…today was mine. It was just a short walk (a small part of my day away from the duties of a stay-at-home mother of three), but 50 minutes later (and three rolls of film) I am different. I get it. People don’t stay still.

People change, they move…from one country to another, they grow up, their features morphing with age and wisdom, they die. That which is here today will not be here tomorrow. Aunt Sis is sick. This is not to write about her “impending death”, for nothing is known and truth be told, we are all facing our “impending death”, but it stands to reason that she is older, and she too will not stay still.

And things don’t stay still. The beautiful old Victorian house I just photographed an hour ago might not be there next year, at least not without an “intervention”. And even with massive repairs, it will not be there. Not like it was today. With it’s weathered boards, pealing paint, broken porch and run-down shutters, an intervention will make it stand longer, but will ruin the beauty of what time had done and what I saw today. But I took a picture, and that picture will not change.

And the old garage. Someone might repair the broken windows. That would keep the rain out, but some of its character will be lost in the face-lift.

So this is the birth…of something. For one it is the beginning of a great love-affair with my camera and the images it holds still even if time does not. Perhaps it is the beginning of the journey of the next great photographer. Perhaps it is yet another realization I will share with my girls. Appreciate the beauty in everything. Really see the world. For what you see this moment will not be there tomorrow. We’ll capture these moments in film, in our paintings, and really appreciate it.

P.S. Pictures will be added later...soon even. Since I only brought my Leica on this walk, not my digital camera, recovering those beautiful images isn't quite as fast, yet I argue it is far more rewarding...