| Essay Fiction posted October 31, 2015 |
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A Picture tells a Story Photo by Randall Martin..
New is an Illusion
by Annmuma
In the course of his loss control inspection service, my husband photographs the risks he surveys. Many of the clients have auto related businesses, including sales, repair and salvage yard operations. As he was putting together a recent report, I caught a glimpse of the snapshot shown here and the story I heard has haunted me since.
I suppose one could argue that the photo suggests not 'the' story, but 'many' stories, and that's what I love about pictures that tell a story. Their messages are in the eyes and ears of the beholders.
For some, each one of the cars abandoned in this wrecking yard reflects an adventure in one person's life. For me, they represent a chapter in all of mankind's memoir. I imagine the young couple who scrimped and saved to buy their first car, the teenager who received a shiny emblem of enhanced freedom on his sixteenth birthday, the family who mourned the loss of a loved one in a heart-breaking traffic tragedy , the urgent trip to the hospital to greet a newborn or say a last good-bye to an adored grandparent. The list is an endless litany of what makes every life unique and, at the same time, identical to every other life. The commonality of the human existence far outweighs the differences and, still, the deafening blare of those playing to our separateness, the things that alienate us one from the other, often drown out the hush and peace of love and tolerance. The tale told in this print reminds of the things that bind us together.
Look again and this image shouts the history of life with all its built-in expiration dates. While life itself may be endless in some minds, every particle that makes up the whole has a 'Best If Used By' date stamped on it. The rusting shells of once new cars, epitomize the relationships, the chance encounters, the pleasures, the trials, the businesses, the family, the reality, the dreams, the failures, the successes; none of them are forever and, yet, they live eternal in the etching, however subtle, left in our psyche, individual and collective. Knowing this behooves thinking about the good stuff and permeating the positive experiences. This image illustrates the truth that we can live only in today, but it is the past that created today and today will create the future.
Life is what we make it. We decide.
In the course of his loss control inspection service, my husband photographs the risks he surveys. Many of the clients have auto related businesses, including sales, repair and salvage yard operations. As he was putting together a recent report, I caught a glimpse of the snapshot shown here and the story I heard has haunted me since.
I suppose one could argue that the photo suggests not 'the' story, but 'many' stories, and that's what I love about pictures that tell a story. Their messages are in the eyes and ears of the beholders.
For some, each one of the cars abandoned in this wrecking yard reflects an adventure in one person's life. For me, they represent a chapter in all of mankind's memoir. I imagine the young couple who scrimped and saved to buy their first car, the teenager who received a shiny emblem of enhanced freedom on his sixteenth birthday, the family who mourned the loss of a loved one in a heart-breaking traffic tragedy , the urgent trip to the hospital to greet a newborn or say a last good-bye to an adored grandparent. The list is an endless litany of what makes every life unique and, at the same time, identical to every other life. The commonality of the human existence far outweighs the differences and, still, the deafening blare of those playing to our separateness, the things that alienate us one from the other, often drown out the hush and peace of love and tolerance. The tale told in this print reminds of the things that bind us together.
Look again and this image shouts the history of life with all its built-in expiration dates. While life itself may be endless in some minds, every particle that makes up the whole has a 'Best If Used By' date stamped on it. The rusting shells of once new cars, epitomize the relationships, the chance encounters, the pleasures, the trials, the businesses, the family, the reality, the dreams, the failures, the successes; none of them are forever and, yet, they live eternal in the etching, however subtle, left in our psyche, individual and collective. Knowing this behooves thinking about the good stuff and permeating the positive experiences. This image illustrates the truth that we can live only in today, but it is the past that created today and today will create the future.
Life is what we make it. We decide.
I suppose one could argue that the photo suggests not 'the' story, but 'many' stories, and that's what I love about pictures that tell a story. Their messages are in the eyes and ears of the beholders.
For some, each one of the cars abandoned in this wrecking yard reflects an adventure in one person's life. For me, they represent a chapter in all of mankind's memoir. I imagine the young couple who scrimped and saved to buy their first car, the teenager who received a shiny emblem of enhanced freedom on his sixteenth birthday, the family who mourned the loss of a loved one in a heart-breaking traffic tragedy , the urgent trip to the hospital to greet a newborn or say a last good-bye to an adored grandparent. The list is an endless litany of what makes every life unique and, at the same time, identical to every other life. The commonality of the human existence far outweighs the differences and, still, the deafening blare of those playing to our separateness, the things that alienate us one from the other, often drown out the hush and peace of love and tolerance. The tale told in this print reminds of the things that bind us together.
Look again and this image shouts the history of life with all its built-in expiration dates. While life itself may be endless in some minds, every particle that makes up the whole has a 'Best If Used By' date stamped on it. The rusting shells of once new cars, epitomize the relationships, the chance encounters, the pleasures, the trials, the businesses, the family, the reality, the dreams, the failures, the successes; none of them are forever and, yet, they live eternal in the etching, however subtle, left in our psyche, individual and collective. Knowing this behooves thinking about the good stuff and permeating the positive experiences. This image illustrates the truth that we can live only in today, but it is the past that created today and today will create the future.
Life is what we make it. We decide.
 Recognized |
I love photos that tell a story and this one is particularly vocal.
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