Life Story: The Soul of a Picture
I am sure you’ve heard that some cultures, including some Native American groups, believe that being photographed can steal your soul. There are still some groups that believe this today, that each photograph takes away part of your life force. That is one way to look at it.Or we can see it as giving part of our soul to the image. Allowing our selves to be vulnerable and be seen in a moment – whether it’s a happy moment, a candid moment, a trying moment. I do believe that one of the purposes of being photographed is to preserve a piece of your self from that place in time… To give to your family and friends, to your future self, to the people yet to come in your life. You leave these frames of your self when you are no longer here on this earth physically, when all that is left is your legacy. When all that is left is the memories. We joke about a photograph taking our soul but really the joke is covering up how we feel vulnerable because some one is seeing us. Some one will see us in that photograph. Sometimes we don’t want to be seen, we don’t want to see where we are in that moment. But those people who love us most love our whole selves. Whew, isn't that refreshing to be reminded of? That we are loved just the way we are.This week I've watched a childhood friend of mine loose her sweet baby girl. I've learned that another friend lost her father last night. And this morning David lost his grandfather after a long battle with cancer. I used to really be against Valentines Day - why can't we just show love to our people every day? And we can. And we should. But I am letting up on my Valentines-Day-grinchness this year because why not take a special day to show extra love, when you just don't know how long you have with the people you love.We are sending love, light and prayers to The Liberto Family, The Umstead Family, and The Teeter/Hancock Family. Remembering sweet Stella and David's Pawpaw (the baby in the picture is our niece, Addison) with the following images:
