Friday 8 November 2013

Caught In The Moment

First by foundimagination
I've found photos, for me, have an almost magical ability to take me directly back to the moment I took them.

I suppose also, photos from my childhood and youth remind me of those situations and maybe even the feeling surrounding them, but for photos I've taken?  Some of them I can remember the moment the shutter clicked.

Like this photo.

It was the first real sort of date Jay and I went on.  It was also my first time at this park.

It was a little on the chilly side, but not cold.  I had on just the right amount of layers. 

Jay was bounding, literally, up ahead and onto the tall rocks. 

I was nervous.  Nervous of the slipperyness, and nervous of the growing height, and nervous of getting stuck or hurting myself.

I stopped at this rock, to take some calming breaths and see if I was able to go any further, through a tight crevasse Jay had just slipped through, and I saw this rock with the moss on it and I stopped and took this photo.  I remember the moment very clearly.

It also brings back some other moments throughout that little trip, like us lying on the railway trellis in the sun, or making the mini rock man on the grassy plateau on the way down.

It reminds me of the moment Jay wanted to run down the straight, steep embankment and I told him I wasn't able to but that I'd meet him at the car... at some point, and he turned around and came back and found a way for both of us to travel.  A way that was a little less exciting for him, but still a little scary for me.  "It shows how much I love you." I remember him saying.  "My last few relationships?  If she hadn't have wanted to come down this way?  I would have just gone ahead and left her.  For you?  I came back."

I remember having mixed feelings about what he'd said.  That he had it in him to leave a partner in a situation where it might have been unsafe for her, but I suppose I thought it was sweet that he'd grown enough as a person and was thoughtful enough to come back and help me feel safe.

But, that's not what I came here to say in this post.

I just came here to say that a lot of the photos I took, I can clearly remember the moment.  I don't know if that feeling will last forever, or maybe some day in the future I'll just see the picture and not quite remember the moment, or if that's one of the magical blessings of being behind a lens for me. 

Somehow taking a photo of the moment often lets me relive it, over and over again.  Even if it's just remembering that walk I went on that one day when I looked up and saw that image that I wanted to capture.

Even if it's just remembering taking the picture, and how the air felt when I saw it.

No comments: