Time
With the end of another year staring us in the face, and the recognition that it is two years since I posted a blog, I thought this would be a good time to share a short piece entitled ‘Time’ that I submitted to The Photowalk podcast last year (see below for more info and links). Click on the images if you would like to see them full-sized.
Time is defined as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole”. But it is so much more than that: it’s something that is both within and outwith our control; something that has the ability to pass in a blink of the eye or painfully drag its heels; something that we wish we had more of or weighs heavily in our hands; and something through which we would like to be able to physically travel.
Back in 2020 when the world so dramatically slammed on the brakes, and we found ourselves confined within the walls of our homes, borders of our gardens and a dictated ‘local patch’, I signed up for a mindful photography workshop with Paul Sanders. Each week, we received a photographic assignment; a mini project to make us observe and think. One of those assignments was based on the poem ‘Leisure’ by W.H. Davies. Even if you don’t know the whole poem, you will be familiar with the first two lines:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
It was a pertinent assignment. Like for so many other people, the pandemic had the effect of slowing down my daily life - there was nowhere to rush off to - and so I had begun to slow down and notice the smaller details of my surroundings. This was my initial response to the brief and the images reflected this - I just took the time to stand and stare, to notice the miniature world around me.
As I took the time to stand and stare, however, I realised that my vision tends to blur. The focus of my attention would lose its sharp outline and become more blurred around the edges; more an idea of colour and shape rather than an object. This set off the thought process that, as we hurtle through our daily lives, life, and time, can become blurred. We lose sight of what is really important; those little moments spent with the people who really mean something to us or taking the time to appreciate what we have in our lives.
Then I started to think about time itself and how I could represent that. How each minute of our life encapsulates the past, present and future; how time doesn’t stand still, even if we do; how if we return again and again to a certain spot, it will be never be the same, cannot be the same, regardless of whether we want it to be or not. And how in each minute of living, we have a choice in what our future will be, based on our past and present, whether remembered or not.
The assignment ended up taking me way beyond the poem and into my psyche. I travelled back in time to past events, I was acutely aware of being in the moment, and looked towards the future. It was a bit of a bumpy ride at times, but ultimately positive. And all because I took the time to stand and stare.
Kahlil Gibran sums it up beautifully ‘… yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream …’
This piece has also been published here by The Photowalk. The Photowalk is a podcast published every Friday, which embraces the mindfulness of walking with a camera, being in the great outdoors and making pictures. Host Neale James shares stories of inspiration, letters and pictures from listeners’ walks, and talks with photographers and creative people worldwide. It’s a show all about the why of photography rather than the how.