I really appreciate the "On Not Carrying a Camera" essay. I often think about just how many unphotographed people have existed throughout human history and how their lives are imbued with no less meaning or dignity and are no less eternal than our over-exposed ones.
I loved that piece on marriage! My husband and I were very adamant that our wedding day was not “the most important day of our lives”- those days were the days of our baptisms, even if we don’t remember them; marriage is that baptismal grace unfolding in our particular circumstances.
Sometimes as a doula I was asked to try to photograph the exact moment of birth, and I disliked that job. I think people fail to realize how deep that moment is and how it’s best remembered (or even better- forgotten!).
But thankfully it seldom happened that I could even do that, because usually I was needed elsewhere at that moment, and the desire on the moms part for the photo was no longer in her thoughts.
(PS I didn’t know you were/are a doula; I’d probably sign a contract with you based 99% on your writing, the other 1% being are you a real human being and can you apply counter pressure.)
I love Obianuju Ekeocha! I've got her book Target Africa: Ideological Neocolonialism in the Twenty-First Century and am reminded that I still need to read it.
I really appreciate the "On Not Carrying a Camera" essay. I often think about just how many unphotographed people have existed throughout human history and how their lives are imbued with no less meaning or dignity and are no less eternal than our over-exposed ones.
I loved that piece on marriage! My husband and I were very adamant that our wedding day was not “the most important day of our lives”- those days were the days of our baptisms, even if we don’t remember them; marriage is that baptismal grace unfolding in our particular circumstances.
That’s a beautiful way of looking at it!
Man oh man, so many good pieces this week! A lot of hard things can be good / good things can be hard reminders in here.
I recently found both volumes of The Story of Christianity at a used bookstore for $3 each and I am waiting for the right moment to crack them open.
The essay “On Not Carrying a Camera”— oomph !
Sometimes as a doula I was asked to try to photograph the exact moment of birth, and I disliked that job. I think people fail to realize how deep that moment is and how it’s best remembered (or even better- forgotten!).
But thankfully it seldom happened that I could even do that, because usually I was needed elsewhere at that moment, and the desire on the moms part for the photo was no longer in her thoughts.
Love hearing this.
(PS I didn’t know you were/are a doula; I’d probably sign a contract with you based 99% on your writing, the other 1% being are you a real human being and can you apply counter pressure.)
Haha!
I love Obianuju Ekeocha! I've got her book Target Africa: Ideological Neocolonialism in the Twenty-First Century and am reminded that I still need to read it.
Oh, thank you so much for sharing Ben Christenson’s essay! So so so true.
And really nice to hear it when you’re in the rapidly-growing family stage.