Images of the Heart

As photographers, we often describe our photographic experiences n part by the pictures we didn't take. We may have been too slow to get the camera up to our face. Or we may not have had the camera set up correctly for the shot. Or the moment was just too emotionally charged and we just couldn't bring ourselves to 'take the shot.'

But for what ever reason we didn't get the shot, we'll talk about the 'ones that got away.'

Why? Because if they are worth talking about, they had some impact on us. And we all have those shots etched in our brain. The image of the first woman ever ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention hugging a friend and fellow minister after a worship service celebrating that ordination. A truly emotional shot I will not soon forget.

The sunset over Hyco Lake which image I actually took but have since lost the Kodachrome original and to my knowledge no prints remain. That is now relegated to 'got away' status since it only lives in my mind.

Casual images of friends that remain in my mind since I did not have a camera to record them at the time, but will forever keep them in my heart. Our images of those friends I did not take but have seen in the snapshot collections of others. (Forgive me Jim for the one I mostly remember about you.)

These picture are more than lighting. They are the light. They are more than emotionally charged. They are spiritually charged. And thus they are the light. They are woven into the fabric of my being and in part help sustain my life. These are the images that help make me whole.

On my mother's death, I arrived at the hospital just moments before her passing. I believe she waited for my arrival before leaving this world. As I stepped away from the bed after telling her goodbye, her face became lit with the light from outside. She looked as good as she had looked in days. Perhaps weeks. There were no tubes remaining. And through the good graces of some student nurses, the angels of the day, she was clean and well groomed.

When the light struck her face, that image became an image of the heart 'that got away.' I thought "the Lord lift his countenance upon you, and give you peace." That's what it looked like. The Lord was shining on her. I believe she chose the light over the pain of this world. This image of the heart helps make me whole.

An image that reaches 'image of the heart' status is an image that is better left out of the camera. The camera would never do it justice. We would always be disappointed. It's is best it live in our center so we can remember it there. Trying to capture these images any place but our heart, well it just would not weave as well into the fabric of our being.