exposure: contrast blares truth

In a memory box buried in the back of the closet I have negatives that show frozen stills of a past in motion. All that is left as physical evidence of life's many yesterdays are images, pieces of paper with pictures on them. But beyond these photos there is evidence that dwells in the mind and heart of  all of us where the past lives forever. Do we remember things in color? Don't the moments that mean the most stay vibrant forever? The first time you saw the one you loved or the first time your heart was broken to pieces and you wondered how you'd survive it; we remember the moments that change us and appreciate them rarely while they happen.

I sometimes wonder about the validity of a photo; they often can lie, showing a moment perhaps better than it really was. How many smile because the camera is present not because they are happy in their most deep depths? Yet photos can often tell the truth quicker and sometimes easier than any words ever could revealing us bare and stripping all away our pretense. 

There is a moment on the show Mad Men where Don Draper is presenting an ad campaign to Kodak for their Carousel slide projector. It is one of the most moving moments I remember from Mad Men and what made me a fan of the show. Here is the happenings of his sales-pitch:

Slideshow begins.

Don: “Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means “the pain of an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.”

Don shows slides of his wife, his children, picnics, celebrations, wedding and family moments.

Don: “This device isn’t a spaceship. It’s a time machine. It goes backwards. Forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called The Wheel. It’s called The Carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels, around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved.”

More poignantly put than I ever could manage. Photographs are like a portal for the mind and heart allowing us to travel back and recapture a feeling. Negatives are becoming a thing of the past in this digital age but the lack of exposures doesn't change our ability to be exposed. We cannot hide or run from the truth forever. It will find us. The contrast of black and white negatives against the distraction color can provide speaks of the permanence of choice. The life that is busy is not necessarily full and the life that seems small might be the most valuable and do the most good.

In the beginning I said I have photos stored in a memory box in the closet, but each of us has memory boxes in our minds. We at times go to these boxes and intentionally take a memory into our thought to remember a moment a feeling whether easy or hard. Then there are those times when the box of memories doesn't wait for our intentions but bursts forth and memories flood our senses. Who we loved and who loved us stops being past tense and again we are there. All the other dissolves away.

To have a great life, have great love. Give as much you demand and demand much because in life second chances aren't guaranteed. Some things once you do them, cannot be undone. Do wisely - think with caution how you use your one and only life and add something of value to the lives of others. Love is always a worthy addition. Make something beautiful to outlive you. This is my prayer. This is my wish. This is my hope.