‘Life is like the ocean. It can be calm or still, and rough and rigid, light and dark, but in the end, it is always beautiful.’ We’ve heard these words before. Our family donated a beautiful photo of a wave to the hospital that treated Jacob. It was taken at one of our local beaches so it meant a lot more. Those words were read out when we handed the photo over to the nursing staff to put in their tv room as they described the picture to a ‘t.’ Those words also suited the photo I took of the beach to complete this weeks exploration of ‘light’ in photography and grief. I knew I wanted to take a picture of the beach as I seem to be drawn to it lately, maybe because Jacob is part of the sea as we’ve scattered a little bit of him at some of our favourite holiday seaside spots. Plus he’s a Pisces water sign in the zodiac – swim free my little fish. I drove around the point when I noticed dolphins not far from shore. I pulled the car over and grabbed Jacob’s camera and clicked away. I ran along with them parallel to the water.
When I got home I checked the photos out and I found the one I wanted to fiddle and mess with different effects for light. I tried to write on the photo using a photographic app on my mobile trying to point out where the Dolphins were and free hand drawing an arrow. I thought I was erasing my words and drawings off my photo but obviously not as when I looked at my final work of art it had pieces of all the writings and drawings I had tried to rub out, making it have a weird abstract feel about it. I chose that one over the original, cause it’s a bit weird like I am at times 🙂
I like the light blue and creamy colours of the sea and the rocks in the photo. I think I may have turned the photo a bit too light, but I like the way it turned out by mistake. These colours made me feel calm. A feeling that I have felt a lot since we lost Jacob, in all his trials and tribulations during his battle with cancer he never complained, he was really calm. If he soldiered through all of that like he did, I should live by his example and really appreciate everyday I’ve been blessed with, to stop and smell the roses and appreciate all the small things. The small things like the sparkles on the water from the sun, the dolphins swimming by, sand between your toes, dancing in the rain, rainbows and butterflies.
The two photographs side by side capture the light and dark of the ocean. Just like in life we deal with the light and dark. ‘We’ve all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are’ – Sirius Black. I choose ‘light.’ And just as Dory said in ‘Finding Nemo’ – just keep swimming, just keep swimming – in the beautiful ‘light’ blue waters and I will find you. 🐬