Behind The Smiles - Life Meets Photography

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
— Aaron Siskind

I read this quote today and it got me thinking about how amazing it is that you can capture so much in one still image. This brought me to the conclusion that it might be interesting for me to share my photography, whilst explaining what I was really feeling that day.

8th October 2016:

The following photos were taken on a day out in London with one of my closest friends. They are photos that for me immediately conjure up memories of true friendship.

This first photo is of my friend, Janetta. For me it captures the essence of her personality. Although I tower above her, her personality is larger than life!

And this is me, hastily trying to take back my camera, like a mother whose baby has been in the arms of another for far too long!

It looks like great fun right?! When I look back on it now it is with fondness, however, not because we were two typical teenage girls taking hundreds of photos, but because this day solidified to me the importance of having true friends.

The reality behind the photos

This day did not start well for me at all, as I was walking round with a great weight on my shoulders and a grey cloud over my head. I had met up with my ex-boyfriend so that we could swap belongings. He was my first love and we had been together for nearly 2 years, since we were 15.

So, at the start of the day I wasn't great company! However, I desperately wanted to have fun with Janetta and so I put on my best smile for these photos.





On top of this, I was suffering from a bad cold that was quickly growing into a chest infenction. Janetta, sensing how I felt, gave me her best smiles and jokes, managing to draw many giggles from me.





After several hours of galivanting around London we decided to give in to the pain in our feet and to go home. Upon arriving at her house I collapsed onto her bed, my last supplies of energy completely drained by my chest infection (I won't go into the details but lets just say it wasn't pretty at all!).

"I'll be back in a second" was Janetta's response to my dramatic collapse onto her bed, but I hardly heard her, too consumed by my thoughts.

Minutes later she returned with the tray of food in the photo below. I really don't have a sweet tooth and so to me it looks absoulutely disgusting! However, looking back that pink cup full to the brim of nutella, it was just what I needed to get me through the snot and the tears!

She continued to feed me very strange, bits of food, even giving me a raw carrot to chew on (very random, I know). She even put up with my constant running to the bathroom to cough up, 'yucky stuff' from my lungs, and she put up with my loud, chesty coughs that probably woke up the whole neighbourhood.

So, although at the time this day may have seemed like an absoulute disaster, and not the, 'fun, girls day out' that we had planned, it is still one of my fondest memories because of the compassion and empathy shown to me.

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Some more photos from the day:

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P.S. This was not a life threatening event, as dramatic as it might seem by my writing. I was even able to make some jokes a few days later from bed:

For some it could be such a trivial memory, but for me, it is a reminder of the importance of friends!

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
— Aaron Siskind

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My Introduction Post

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Upon seeing my first post, one of my friends @Elizaa has decided to make an account!!!

See her first post here