If you buzz regularly by my blog you may have noticed my proclivity for ridiculous angling in attempting to get photographs of ephemera that catches my fancy.
I teeter in heels up snow-covered rocks to catch sunset. I wriggle in less than pristine spring dirt to point my lens up at a blase butterfly. Just last night I swayed on a rapidly disappearing rock jetty as the tide crashed in and seagulls screamed and swooped at me. It was like a scene out of The Birds, but I got my shot.
An unusual angle on a familiar scene can tell a story, and give hints about the events and moods behind it.
My children and I recently attended their sister’s commencement and related festivities. Thousands upon thousands of people were on hand snapping pictures on cameras and tablets and phones–in so far as black and orange umbrellas could shield the electronics.
I’ve picked out some different angles on the celebration: the view from inside my rain poncho at commencement, some of my progeny to my right as they clapped for an award recipient in my daughter’s department, and the steel paw of her school’s mascot.
I paused there in front of a sculpture my husband had never seen, on a campus where so much and so many had been added since the last time he set eyes upon it, and added my own salt tears to the mix, wishing he could have lived to see this, every part of this, the steam punk paw, our astoundingly accomplished daughter and her supportive sister and brothers, the never-ending rain.
Love in the Spaces 
Some days that hits me the most..I’m somewhere, anywhere, and I know Tom hasn’t seen THAT…whatever that happens to be. It doesn’t make me sad for me, but for him; it’s always something that I can say he would have loved.
It happens more and more often as time goes by. It gets harder and hard to say with any certainty that “we would be doing this”, or that…I just wish we were being together.
I’ve always really enjoyed your angles..I’m not a photographer, so I don’t give a lot of thought as to how you might have had to risk life and limb (and dirty clothes!) to get a shot. Makes them more beautiful, right?
Congrats on our daughter’s graduation..that’s a big deal.
Thank you, though I’m pretty sure real photographers don’t go about this like I do :)……My muses can be peculiar….You’re so right about the mixture of feelings that comes with seeing something for the both of you–and that it’s not a thing that goes away over time, and it can even intensify over time and as you realize you’ll always be carrying that person with you.
Thank you for your proclivity to capture places and events from new angles! My heart aches for your loss, as you celebrate yet another significant life event without your beloved husband beside you. My husband died suddenly and unexpectedly nearly three years ago, and I’m well-familiar with that particular feeling of loss. Bless you.
To you, too. There must be so many universal experiences on losing a spouse. I admire your willingness to see the light that’s left and speak and travel and write after such a crushing loss.
I don’t know when you lost your husband, but I’m sure it’s still difficult, no matter when it occurred. Congratulations to your daughter.
janet
Thank you, Janet. My daughter was just about to start college when her dad was diagnosed and he passed away only months later. It stuns me that he never once saw her at school, where she entered his own field of undergraduate study and even worked with the same professor who had been his thesis adviser.
How sad, yet how serendipitous.
Congratulations to your daughter on her graduation and to you and your children for being family strong. Your husband would be proud. 🙂
Thank you! He would be so proud of them all, and so delighted that she’s going into his field–not something we saw coming when she began college.
Great variety of shots. That is such a beautiful sunset. Love the orange colours in the sky, stunning. Congrats to your daughter on her milestone 🙂
Thank you! I’m starting to learn my way around where to head for sunset and sunrise in different weather conditions, whereas I used to very much rely on luck. I’m hoping I’m starting to absorb some more concrete knowledge from the rest of my family!
Like you I often end up ridiculous things to get that shot. Sometimes it’s hard to see the future when the ones you love will be forever locked in the past.
That is so true. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how I can now be older than my husband was when he died. It just doesn’t compute.