(photography that tickles my brain)

What does it mean to be human?
How do we live fully into the humanity we have been given?

These are questions I think about regularly. And, it’s not just me. Many people ponder these questions in the daily decisions of life, consciously and sub-consciously. Photographers capture elements of these questions through their art with pictures of the people that make up “community”. Pictures don’t hold one absolute answer to humanity’s ponderings; rather fragmented pieces shape an understanding that words cannot fully hold.

I compiled a selection of my favorite pictures throughout the years from my Pinterest board (as I find photo-credit, I will update!). Today, the post will focus on the general theme, and in the future, I will highlight individual photos.

Moment by moment

These photographers are not capturing the extraordinary moments of life, these are memories at risk of being forgotten in the day to day, moments which are fleeting by nature. It can be easy to take for granted a kiss on the hand, eating watermelon during the summer, or licking an ice cream cone on a weekly date. Perhaps we don’t even attend to enjoying a cup of coffee, re-braiding one’s hair, or another stroke of the paint brush during a project. These repetitive actions reveal our humanity in the simplest way.

Beauty in gray-scale

The collection of photos highlights the beauty in life. Though the color is stripped, raw emotion shines through. Even the absence of color cannot dampen the joy, the camaraderie, the love, the expressions of our humanity. When I look at the pictures, I am reminded of how connected we are to one another.

Especially black-and-white photography, I love seeing wrinkles. Wrinkles are a physical representation of the toll one’s life has had on the body. What a beautiful thing to have the sustained years of smiling and see the lines engraved on one’s face, or hard work etched on one’s hands. The stretch marks, the wrinkles, the scars all tell a person’s story. What a terribly sad thing it is to remove history from a face or change the structure which effectively erases faces of generations who came before. It displaces a person and separates them from the reality of the human condition.

Creating purpose

Photos such as these give me hope and uplift my spirit to remember this present moment. The encouragement these photos give me today, and one I would like to share with others, is: we were made to create.

Create stories.
Create friendships.
Create art.

Every single one of us is an active agent in writing our history, and in this present moment we have the opportunity to live fully. Perhaps it means pausing to enjoy a sip of coffee, read a good book, or enjoy nature; or maybe we can see (truly look, see, and connect to) a loved one, serve our neighbor, or welcome others in to dance joyfully together.

In closing…

We’ll end with Ray Bradbury commenting on the life of his grandfather:

“When I was a boy my grandfather died, and he was a sculptor. He was also a very kind man who had a lot of love to give the world, and he helped clean up the slum in our town; and he made toys for us and he did a million things in his lifetime; he was always busy with his hands.

And when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn’t crying for him at all, but for all the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again, he would never carve another piece of wood or help us raise doves and pigeons in the backyard or play the violin the way he did, or tell us jokes the way he did.

He was part of us and when he died, all the actions stopped dead and there was no one to do them just the way he did. He was individual. He was an important man. I’ve never gotten over his death.

Often I think what wonderful carvings never came to birth because he died. How many jokes are missing from the world, and how many homing pigeons untouched by his hands.

He shaped the world. He DID things to the world. The world was bankrupted of ten million fine actions the night he passed on.”