Shutter Sisters

What We Possess

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When I followed the young boy (one of Renu‘s students from Koseli School) into his home in Kathmandu, Nepal, I didn’t find things like a chest of drawers stuffed with clothes or a closet full of toys. I didn’t see a shelf for books or trophies. There was no kitchen or bathroom in this home. Just two small beds and a handful of possessions including this bicycle. It spoke to me.

Each time I visit a new friend’s home in a place far from mine on this Picture Hope journey, I question the quantity and value of my own possessions bit by bit. I sketch imaginary circles around “needs” and “wants” with a shaky hand. I carry a dose of guilt and shame when I let my mind wonder how I let myself get so caught up in superficial things. Stuff. I struggle with the idea of letting things go and figuring out the best way to teach my children that the value of our lives should not be measured by what we possess. Sure, I can say it, but I don’t know how to demonstrate that yet. I don’t know how to embrace it and really live it. But maybe this is where it starts… when someone like this young boy opens up his heart and his home to share a bit of his wisdom, and a view of his bike, with someone like me.

Enlighten us today. What are your images teaching you?

Comments

  5. What it is teaching me most is that I want to do it full time; to capture life's moments continually, steadily, until the end of my days. Sometimes I wish that I had a camera and a transcriptionist in my head so I could have both my thoughts and the eye's grasp of a moment set into stone (so to speak). I constantly feel that I didn't capture 'the heart' of my experience, but am so blessed I captured images that transport me there to experience it again.

  9. That image is saturated with emotion. I could stare at it all day long.

    My photos have taught me to slow down, to really open my eyes, and notice details and angles and light that I would have completely missed otherwise. I see differently now, then before I knew how to use a camera.

  10. This is an image of mine that I come back to from time to time:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/85057042@N00/2912367599/

    It is called "Mary, the Return", and stands in the cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden. The artist, Anders Widoff, wanted to portray Mary as someone we could recognise as being one of us. It's a touching representation, and it makes me think – how would she react coming to our world today, and what can I do to help change the badness in the world so she wouldn't have to see it?

  12. Today's post is so poignant. Thank you! My images are teaching me to trust my eye, if I like it others will too!

  15. oh boy…i felt the same way after a two week trip to Kenya and try to teach my girls as well that happiness is not found in material possessions!

    ***your photo is beautiful…it really tells a story all on it's own!***

  16. what a powerful imagine and incredibly powerful story. You have made me stop dead in my tracks and think of the things that surround me and what I value.

  18. such a beautiful photo.
    i've been thinking about this very issue a lot. frankly, my "stuff" has become such a burden. i used to love buying things and now i just realize that i'll eventually have to do something with them – dispose, recycle, etc. and that's time that i don't want to spend dealing with "stuff". i recently read an article (from an old issue of the Oprah magazine that i randomly acquired from a friend that was moving) about a movement where many people are trying to live with as few possessions as possible in small spaces. the thing that impressed me was that the people quoted talked about having so much more time to spend doing things they enjoy like having good, real conversations with friends and being out in nature. it really got me thinking… there is so much excess in our lives, but really it can be a burden. this is something i'll continue to think about and i hope to find a way to live meaningfully with less.

  20. My images keep on reminding me that it's the smallest things that are the most important and that adventures are often in those small things.