I talk about photography as if its the most important thing in life. To me it is. I know a gifted heart surgeon thinks what they do is the most important thing. A writer thinks what they do is the most important thing, chemical engineers, developers.
We all think what we do is the most important thing --- or at least we should.
We give to this life what we can, what we were given to give. Thats hugely important. Someone mopping up school hallways is as important to maintaing quality life as that gifted heart surgeon. We all need to do our part in the world.
Legacy isn't grandiose accomplishment, though it seems like it is with the importance we put on celebrity. Legacy is giving to this life in such a way that you leave it better than you were born into.
I can think of some individuals who I think we would've been better without, but that is only a few in comparison to the majority of people who have added to this planet in ways we might not even realize.
I don't want to go off on too long of a tangent here, but i feel its important to note how important each of our contributions truly are. Without the guy who keeps the school hallways clean, someone else would have to take time out of what they do to do that once in awhile.
Think about it!
Think about the great grandmother of Picasso, or Ghandi or Mother Theresa! Without them……?
Recently I worked on a story about child loss. Specifically still births. This was a small story in many ways, but as I worked on putting the words together I realized how big this story is to my subjects who lost their babies. It is their life really.
I have a brother and sister who lost a baby in the exact same way as this person I wrote about and yet I really couldn't draw from my personal experience because I never invested the time into understanding what they went through(I was too young and caught up in my own growing up I guess to get what was happening.)
This mom had to deliver her dead child as did my sister in law and as I am writing this now it hits me like it hasn't before.
This is life.
Life lived through struggle and strife. On our own. Even if we have a support group we live on our own and die on our own. We make our own lives. And each one of those is important in the fabric of society--or at least potentially important.
Holden's life never lived in the 'material' world is important in how it will now help others.
I made this picture above as sort of a symbol of hope. This is a picture of a little sister holding her big brother who she never met. She was born 8 days shy of his first birthday.
Her mom and dad will never forget that.
Her life has a preciousness to it that, though all life is precious, hers is derived from the fear of her loving parents bringing her into the world after living through the worst experience of their lives. Though the life of her older brother's preciousness never shared with the world.
I titled this first blog "The importance of what I do" for a specific reason. I am not the greatest photographer, I can name you 100s or more photographers much more gifted in this craft than I, but I am the photographer and writer who told this story and this story needed to be told.
The importance of what I do is doing what I can to tell a story that needs to be told. And doing the best that I can.
I wish I was better at it, but I do the best I can and try the best I can and if everyone just did that instead of trying to scheme to do as little as possible and get away with it, man we might just get somewhere!
http://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/article_20224c2c-5285-11e4-9c8e-f744ce0fbbf0.html
Check out this story here. When my paper does this sort of thing, dedicates this much space to telling a story in a compassionate and informative way I am so proud of working here!
Or you can see what the Tribune did here!
Thanks for getting through my first post on this new site that is under construction.