Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/01/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]my deepest condolences to you. pictorially, i think the little blanket on the bed adds a centerpeice of humanity to the stark surroundings. the peaceful look of your father, the strength of your mother, the hushed activity of women going about their business, all are deeply expressed in your images. i married into an irish-american-catholic family and i am very moved by the tradition of the wake. about 2 years after i was married my mother-in-law, a wonderful and caring woman, passed away. being close with the family over the following weeks, i saw first-hand and up-close the strength and the dignity of the irish and irish-american people. - -rei > From: John Collier <jbcollier@powersurfr.com> > > An Irish wake in a new land > > http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=176307 > > Though I have been using my cameras a great deal this past year, I have been > avoiding developing my last B&W exposures from early April. Finally on > Christmas day I got up the courage to process, scan and print the film. > Images that had not yet faded from my mind greeted me as the printer snorted > and snuffled its way through the paper. > > My father had past away while I was on my way home so I was not there to > wish him god speed; only a few hours too late. My family and I stayed with > him that night in the hospital and my mother slept one last night with him. > In the morning he was still warm from my mother's closeness. The women of > the family stripped and washed the body and we dressed him in fresh clothes > before the morticians came to take him away. > > I was not sure what the reaction to the prints would be. Tears, yes, but not > despair. I am sure that none of the prints will be displayed but I am also > sure they will be much thumbed through in the decades to come. > > Cameras are strange devices, what you see is certainly not what you get. > > John Collier - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html