Making a connection

                         I really wanted my photographs to reflect something that meant a great deal to me. I also wanted to connect on an emotional level with the images that I would produce for the brief. For me producing a set of photographs that were fulled by the emotional loss of my mother brought a deeper, sensitive connection to my subject matter. I have gone through a lot of loss in my life, most recently ,having gone through the heart wrenching loss off miscarriage. For me, this became the background for my subject matter and for the brief.

                      I had found plenty of creative text, read numerous poems, listened to amazing lyrics and researched talented poets, but for me, I would not have been true to my own feelings, if the work I had produced didn't reflect how I felt about loss and bereavement. I needed the landscape photographs I produced to do just that, to reflect an emotional ,even dark feeling, to project my feelings...

                     

                     Below are a few poems I found, which are traditional used during funeral services or for verses in cards.

She is Gone
(Read out at the Queen Mother's Funeral)

You can shed tears that she is gone
or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her
or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she's gone
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
or you can do what she'd want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

David Harkins 1981

 

I must admit the above poem, really brought a tear to my eye. I couldn't read it a second time. The second line, 'or you can smile because she has lived' really means something to me. My mum might not be here anymore, but she left so many brilliant things behind... This really made me think just about all the positive things she had left, just simple things like teaching her children manners, treating other people, how you would like to be treated.

My mum, was a beautiful, talented, kind and caring woman, so for me, this sentence really means something...