There is a poem written by Jorge Luis Borges called "What Can I Hold You With?"
My favorite line is "I offer you the memory of a yellow rose seen at sunset, years before you were born". This sentence, this beautiful sentiment, has stayed with me and rolls around my head, never letting me rest. What does it mean? Why does it resonate with me far more than any other idea?
The memory of a yellow rose seen at sunset. Memory of an image. An image in color, seen at a particular time of day. This is what I have been striving for most of my life. To retain a memory forever. A simple, beautiful image. An image that expresses so much and yet nothing at all. This idea rushes through my veins and makes my head pound with the excitement of capturing such an important moment. A rose at sunset, not an historical event or monumental life changing experience.
This is why I am a photographer. Look at my photographs. What do you see? You see tiny moments. You see the minute details of life that are witnessed by me and captured as best I can with whatever tool I have with me. Yet, I would trade all those images for the right to claim that one sentence written by Borges...."I offer you the memory of a yellow rose seen at sunset, years before you were born".
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