I captured this somewhat blurry image as we drove over a bridge (don’t worry, I wasn’t driving). To me it is a metaphor for life. We were traveling fast and I was trying to hang on to the last moments of our trip. The sky and weather are always interesting in this place near the ocean. I am forever trying to capture sky, water, clouds, and pretty vistas with my phone camera. I stop for photos on every walk we take. But no matter how many photos I take, I can’t stop time. I can’t even slow down the pace of life for very long.
But taking photographs is my way of trying. And of pausing to remember and of pausing to truly see. I take photographs as a way of noticing. I’m intentional about stopping to see. I want to be present in the moment. Some would argue that I should just stop and enjoy the view and not photograph it. But photographs give me something to come back to, a way to extend the memory. They give me pleasure in the remembering.
But this particular photo wasn’t taken while stopping; it was taken at high speed in the middle of life. We were on our way to the next destination. Christmas was over in a blur and we had a plane to catch. We were on to the next thing, as we so often are in life. So the photo reminds me that life can be a blur if we are not careful to slow down and enjoy.
So, I’ll keep snapping photos to try to slow my life down. What will you do?
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