WHAT DOES SHE SEE?
Anna Catherine @ Mt. Nebo State Park Playground (30JUN2022)One of the great joys of photographing your children while they are engaged in the very important work of playing is capturing moments that allow your mind to go down all sorts of rabbit trails imagining what it is they are thinking at a given moment. What I enjoy so much about this particular shot is that I did not really notice until tonight the intensity with which she was looking through this spyglass - and it captivated me immediately.
Part of me would love to have been up there with her, asking her what she saw, what she thought, and the like…as the photographer, I enjoyed the perspective of capturing a little girl who was blocking out everything around her and focusing so intently on something.
Or was she?
Honestly, I have no idea if she was searching for something or had already locked on to a particular subject by the time I took this picture. I love the ambiguity of this situation. We could be witnessing a child who is surveying the scene, unsure as of yet what might draw her attention - OR- we could be witnessing a child locked on to a particular subject, just watching it intently and processing the scene as only a little girl would so choose.
I cannot help but wonder if in our search for certainty and certitude in a variety of our life’s myriad facets we have instead missed the boat completely on the joy of wonder in exploring the unknown of a given topic or circumstance. For me, the essence of this picture is, in fact, the concrete reality that I have no idea what is going through Anna’s mind - and that’s ok. Sometimes it is perfectly ok to simply observe, without the need to have everything tied up in a nice, neat bow.
How might your life be transformed by embracing a little more ambiguity and chasing a little less certainty?
Grace and Peace,
Lamar
NOTE: P.S. added 01JUL2022
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