Last weekend I shot some candid portraits of my dear friends Doug and Marci and their one-year-old boy Dez. On the drive to the park I wondered about how I would connect and build rapport with a one-year old. Wedding photography taught me a lot about making connections with adults; scores of flower girls and ring bearers taught me lessons about understanding and shooting children, but I’ve always been intimidated by babies.
I was pleased to discover that Dez and I share a love of travel and discovery. Although this photo trip to the park was a brief break in my busy day, for him it was a wild adventure into a whole new world. I snapped the above portrait moments after he discovered a dandelion in the grass. Seriously. He was that happy about a dandelion.
For a moment I felt old and jaded. “When was the last time I got that excited about something?” I wondered.
And then it hit me. I get this excited when I travel. In fact, that’s why I come back again and again to traveling. I leap off the edge of my workaday life and fall helplessly in love with dandelions and the strange loveliness of the mysteries of the world.
Photography helps me to understand the immensity of the world. Full immersion into a new culture brings me joy – lots of crazy joy. I see an old friend’s penchant for silliness reflected in the playful smile of a stranger. I catch glimpses of my own ambition in the the details of an ancient building. I am touched to find my mom’s favorite flower growing in a distant garden. When I’m traveling the world with my camera in hand, my soul is unburdened and I feel free. Everything is familiar. Everything is new.
Maybe it’s just me and Dez sitting in the spring grass clapping our hands and asking for more, but I’m guessing that you’ve been there too, happily lost in the newness of the world. So here’s to us – the travelers, the meandering explorers of the world!
Exercise: Spend some time with a toddler and re-learn the art of exploration.
In joy,
Melinda