Fleeting moments in time in other people’s lives this week. Moments that should have disappeared into the ether had I not been there to capture them. And this photographic evidence that I present before you now exists unbeknownst to the subjects themselves. Photography for me always feels like the dark arts. It achieves something unnatural. It creates permanence to something that should be temporary. These moments shouldn’t have survived but now here they are, before our very eyes. They have achieved Immortality in a world of transience. Is that a good thing? Difficult to say…
The winter sun, nature’s spotlight, piercing through the shadows. A beacon of hope through the darkness which seems to be closing in, surrounding us, enveloping us…right now with everything that is going on (cost of living/energy crisis/climate meltdown/war/recession – fun times eh?) it feels like the shadows are fast on our heels, getting harder and harder to outrun. It is consequently difficult to relax and stay positive when you feel you could get engulfed at any moment.
On top of everything mentioned above I have personally been through the valley of darkness this last year. Even though I’m doing better I spend my life walking along the edge of the abyss knowing that one wrong step will put me back in the hole. It’s no picnic and it would be so easy to just see everything as shit but that only buries you deeper in it.
Long covid has robbed me of 3 careers, a social life and the ability to be me. It has taken such a lot and yet I still have so much to be grateful for and am still able to find moments of joy on a regular basis. At first this condition felt like the ultimate curse but in some ways I have come to see it as a blessing because it makes you appreciate even the tinniest of things.
Even in this restricted capacity being alive is still a rare and wondrous privilege and there is beauty to behold everywhere…like the rays of sunshine in these photographs beaming into our lives. This light has travelled 93 million miles through the emptiness of space from a burning star that makes all life on this Earth possible. We live on a miracle. Yes, we have some tough times ahead but all the more reason not to give up and admit defeat by the dark forces. Now is a time to fight and to find pockets of happiness where we can.
So when it’s dark there is only one thing to do..head for the light. Gravitate towards what is positive in your life. Focus on the glory not the gloom. The joy not the horror. There is as much of both so you still get to choose what you dwell on. Evil hasn’t won..it’s just got better PR.
