Ellipsis: Looking At Photographs, Thinking About Life

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Looking At Photographs, Thinking About Life

"You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life."

~Joan Miro

I took the black and white photo you see above, while riding as a passenger in the car the other day. Sometimes I take photos while I drive, but that is a rarity. Most of the time I am in the passenger seat, and I am always looking, always mindful of what is in front and to the side of me. Sometimes I only have a fraction of a second to capture a feeling. That's not easy. Moments, and feelings, are fleeting, so if something in that fraction of second reminds me of something, or makes me smile, or just brings about some sort of emotion, I tend to want to hold on to it for as long as possible. Who wouldn't?

Well, the other day, there was just something about this particular turn in the road that resonated with me on some level. Maybe it was the lighting. Maybe it was the thought that crossed my mind that there should really be a cow standing on that hillside. LOL. Maybe it was the dry grass, that in a year with normal rainfall, there would instead be plenty of green grass. Maybe it was the idea that if there had been green grass, where the brown was, then the picture would kinda look like the picture Windows used for XP.

Shrug.

Usually I know why I snap a photo when I do, but this time I am not quite sure why. I know I like the photo, but I am not sure why. I can't say. So, in an effort to look further into myself, and my reasoning, I converted the photo from color to black and white. The result? Well, I still don't know exactly why I snapped the photo, but I know I feel happier with the black and white, than with the color version. Maybe it was just the day. Rain was coming in, and the sun was waxing and waning, and a moment simply happened, and I let myself experience it.

I am glad I did, because that moment will never come again, and clearly it was a moment that I was meant to be aware of, if even to just spend a little time reflecting on the scene.