our role in history
a couple weeks ago, steph shared this amazing photograph with me (beyond the obvious capture of the moment, there's such awesome timing and composition). the photo was taken mid-february 1975, when mike (steph's husband) was about 10 weeks old. mike's dad, bill, was coming back from a six-month deployment on the USS independence, where bill was an A7 corsair II jet pilot, doing his department head tour.
and then there's this photo, taken december 18th 2010 of mike's homecoming, from being deployed six months. he, too, met his baby for the first time, at 10 weeks old. and mike, too, is a fighter pilot, who was doing his department head tour.
i feel so incredibly blessed to have captured this image for the beaty family. hopefully it will be a photograph that will be treasured and passed down for generations, just as above photo from 1975 has.
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my friends and i have talked a lot about photographs and their role in history, especially those coming from professional, editorial, etc. photographers. what's real? what's not? what has been altered? what's been added? the thought of photographers altering the photographic documentation of history is upsetting. are they documenting history at all? or creating their own history, in a sense.
although i have to admit...sadly, i am guilty. i'm not sure my kids have many photos that haven't been altered in some way (contrast added, a pimple removed, etc.). and yes, that makes me sad. damn it.
hmmm...maybe that's an idea to start this year. in my family's annual book, i will include at least one completely unaltered photo of each of my kids. i like the idea of the photo being of them non-smiling. just them being them. kind of like this...
found via pinterest. amazing, huh?!! quite a brilliant idea. i couldn't find the exact source for the above photo collage, but when i clicked it from my pinterest, it took me to this blog.
yes, i will definitely do that. at least one photo. it's a start. and i think i'll make that one photo film.
ETA: my sweet friend, erin, just posted a comment about the 'perfect shot' and i can't tell you how guilty i am of that so i wanted to add here. i long to let go. to be free. it was actually one of my monthly resolution topics -- LET GO (being less perfect) -- to capture the everything just the way it is. stepping back and capturing more of the scene is something i am going to really try and work on this year. thanks for sharing erin. love you friend.
