View allAll Photos Tagged affection
This mother and son have a solemn even sad quality as they sit before a soft painted landscape background. The mother has her arm tucked under her son's arm. They both gaze off to the side as if in contemplation. Perhaps they have lost the father of the family and are photographed together in their grief.
Grey Atlantic seals at Angel Bay, Little Orme, North Wales; mother touching newborn pup with her flipper
Qualquer gesto, qualquer palavra, qualquer iniciativa, que venha carregada de sentimento, tem valor imensurável.
I didn't see the details of how this couple approached each other, or recognized each other -- but I got the clear impression that they had planned to meet here somewhere, and that they were greatly relieved that they had actually found each other.
The hugging went on for quite some time; if this wasn't affection, I don't know what is ...
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I am taking a wonderful two-weekend class at the International Center for Photography (ICP) in March 2014, with the title "The Creative Process: Meeting Your Muse."
After two days of very intense discussions during the first weekend of the class (Mar 15-16), we were all given individual assignments to work on during the week leading up to our second weekend gathering (Mar 22-23). Mine was to focus on the concepts of “permanence” and “transience,” and to look for (photographic) ways of expressing those concepts. And during some subsequent back-and-forth email conversations with the instructor, I was urged not to spend too much time thinking about these concepts, but rather to capture (photographically) what I felt about them.
Well... How to avoid thinking about such things? I guess one can look at anything that one comes across and observe, “this feels permanent” or “that feels transient.” But at least in my case, it’s very hard to turn my brain off; and I found it impossible not to think about what these concepts meant. After all, if you remember the old adage that “nothing lasts forever,” it reminds you that nothing is really permanent; it’s just that some things are more permanent than others — and, of course, some things are more transient than others. I have a few things that date back to my early childhood, and a bunch of knick-knacks that date back to my children’s early childhood; conversely, I can look at various gadgets in my office (especially the technological ones) and acknowledge that they probably won’t be here a year from now …
What does this have to do with photography? And specifically, how can you “capture” the concept of permanence (or transience) in a photograph? By sheer coincidence, I happened to be reading a blog posting by a street photographer named Eric Kim, titled “14 Lessons Alec Soth Has Taught Me About Street Photography” while I was working on this assignment, and I was intrigued by what Magnum photographer Soth said at one point:
“Photographs aren’t good at telling stories. Stories require a beginning, middle, and end. They require the progression of time. Photographs stop time. They are frozen. Mute. As viewers of the picture, we have no idea what those people on the waterfront are talking about.”
and the additional comment that
"Photographs can’t tell stories, but they are brilliant at suggesting stories…"
and Soth's final comment on the limitations of a single photograph, with the observation that:
"You can’t provide context in 1/500th of a second."
So … I can take a photograph of an arbitrary object, and when I look at it by myself, I can conjure up an arbitrarily detailed mental “story” about when I first saw it, how long it’s been part of my life, and why I think it’s relatively “permanent.” But if I show it to you, that same photograph might well fall flat on its face — because you won’t have the context that I have. You won’t understand (and ultimately agree with, or disagree with) my sense of the permanence/transience of that object unless I can provide the context, which will require a series of photographs in order to provide the beginning, middle, and end of whatever story I want to tell you.
And all of this seems somewhat pointless if the photograph, and the associated story, is related to any kind of familiar “tangible” object — because even if that object has survived since the day I was born, and even if it will still survive after I’m gone, it’s not really permanent. It probably wasn’t here a billion years ago, and it won’t be here a billion years from now.
Indeed, the only thing that I could imagine as being arguably “permanent” in any meaningful way is human emotion. If we all evolved from tadpoles, perhaps our ancestral tadpoles had different emotions than we do; but as long as we have been humans, we have all had emotions of love and hate, joy and sadness, and the full spectrum of what we typically call “feelings.” My parents and grandparents had them, my children and grandchildren have them, and every generation from the ancient cavemen to tomorrow’s “Star Wars" super-heroes, will also have them.
So that is what I’ve tried to capture in the photographs you’ll see in this Flickr set. All of this had to be done in the space of a week, and I had only three “chunks” of time that I could devote to actual picture-making (alas, I cannot escape the mundane requirements of paying the rent and putting food on the table). Thus, I could only manage to observe and capture a few of the emotions that I saw all around me each day; I took some 900+ images in three different NYC locations, winnowed them down to 9 keepers, and that’s what I’ve uploaded here ...
© Darlene Bushue - All of my images are protected by copyright and may not be used on any site, blog, or forum without my permission.
Made it down to Junction Butte just minutes after this calf was born. Signs of afterbirth and the umbilical cord were still present (managed to keep them out of this shot because of the angle). Always fun to watch these little "red dogs" but even more special to see one right after it's been born as it struggles to balance and figure out what to do with those long legs :-) Sat and watched for 15-20 minutes or so, and it never did quite figure out how to nurse while we were there. This mom was quite affectionate and attentive to her little one which provided some nice photo opportunities.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend....as always, thanks for all your visits and comments!!!!!
Not the sharpest image, but I enjoyed catching one of the zookeepers offering Murphy a kiss as he arrived in the giraffe barn.
An affectionate couple with the reflection of the Washington Monument in the Reflecting Pool at Sunset in the background.
TALK NOT OF WASTED AFFECTION, AFFECTION WAS NEVER WASTED .
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet.
EXPLORED : 20 mai # 491
One of my wife Patti's favorite images of mine. It was also featured on our 2007 Christmas card for those of you who were lucky enough to get one.
we went to the paper mill today and i took some pictures.
this is jess and neil. they're not dating, by the way. i just have very affectionate friends.
These two miniature horses wandered over to me, posed nicely, and then wandered away again. I Thank you for giving me 2 minutes of your time!
Chatfield Botanic Gardens. Littleton, Colorado
Cette tulipe m'a séduit. Elle m'a fait penser à mon épouse et notre petit teckel qui porte le nom de «Buddie».
digital collage featuring images from CPWC week 139 & 140; also snippets from other past weeks sheets from nancy baumiller and friends.
i like to think that there were only 3 great loves of my life. (and twice as many horrid ones)
"Tis better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.." Alfred Lord Tennyson.
happy valentines to all my artsy fartsy crowabout friends, luv briedah
How this simple act can dramatically strengthen your relationship
In my 30 years working with couples, I’ve noticed that most people have an easy time describing what they don’t want in their relationship. If prompted, they’re able to rapidly fire off the many issues that they feel are creating d...
howdoidate.com/relationships/healthy-relationships/streng...
.. sadhu disciple fondling the young cow, in his leisure.
see my fav RELATIONSHIP related images here.
A December trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire recently provided excellent conditions for a bit of endangered species photography. The weather was dry, overcast and no wind for a change! The park was also very quiet.
A fair few of the animals were out and about, providing me with some good opportunities.
Thanks for visiting my Flickr page. Happy to receive feedback / comments re my images.
This used to be the township of Aoineadh Mor, a scattering of stone crofts on the braes beside a beautiful river. If the dead tree roots are anything to go by, the inhabitants would have lived on the outskirts of pine woodland.
Now the Forestry Commission seems to have taken over, with several monoculture forests on the surrounding mountains, even wild-seeding into the former township.
Blog: Aoineadh Mor Township