Thursday, August 19, 2010

Memories on a Filmstrip

I was recently going through a friend’s photo stream with no particular reason or intent. Blame it on my aimless days.
But this “just like that” skimming soon became something more emotional. I found pics that told stories – I felt an uncanny relation to them - not the kind you get when you see a pic of a place you have visited but the kind of emotion you feel when the pics focus on the imagery you associate with the place – the unmistakable similarity in the pathetic fallacy of the images captured.

Well, these pics are of places I had also visited – mostly without that friend. Yet, the photographs spoke volumes of the sentiment akin to what I had felt at that same place, at a different moment in time – So many of those thoughts that had relegated to my memory archives came pounding forth, on hardly any provocation – Memories of what happened, what did not happen, what could have happened, and how life progressed from that point onwards – how life’s branches entwined and separated and moved forward – despairing cobwebs grew and they sometimes were comforting too – years fast forwarded, time stood still.

It is strange how so many a times I read so much into a moment, a picture, a memory – not even captured by me but a high-end camera and a sensitive photographer – a gamut of feelings, warmth, nostalgia – a range of reactions, a faint smile, a tug at the heart, a feeble attempt at dismissal by the brain….

Does this happen to you also? Or do I just come across as a hysterical maniac?
Leaving you with an emotion, an experience, a moment that I felt when I captured the following photo at Tuolumne Meadows in California in the fall of 2008. Describing it would ruin it.

A moment in your eyes, forever in your mind.

9 comments:

  1. Yuvika, you had me at this one. All I need is a wee trigger and off I get lost. Photos, smells, songs, dates (I hope you know what I mean!), everything. I am a sucker for all these. Emotions which have been tucked inside come out and surprise me and make me wonder. Sometimes when it gets a bit too much, I have to consciously shut them off by simply refusing to allow myself in that place.

    Sometimes even a word can get me on. How many threads unite us Yuvika. The list is endless and I am glad for that.

    Joy always,
    Susan

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  2. Thanks Susan. SO glad to hear from you, as always!

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  3. I agree with you...you know how much ur engrossed in pain,if you see a picture which remind u of some good nostalgic moments with your close ones...a sweet smile arrives on ur face forgetting all the pain and agony of life...

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  4. good sceneries always lighten your mood.

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  5. Oh yeah! Welcome to the group! :)

    I get lost looking at pictures. Especially pics dated back in the 1990s.. when I was in my pre-teens. I can feel what I felt at that moment when that pic was taken. It bring backs even some inner most thoughts which I wouldn't have realized then.

    Nice post!

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  6. Thanks Sameera - yep school and kiddie days memories are always dear!!!

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  7. ah ha just like me then I got tonnes of pics and whenever i got nothing to do I go through the times its always nostalgic seeing old things and the things you remmeber are amazing ... the little details that come to the mind ...

    the pic in end is beautiful and as you said describing it will Ruin it ..

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  8. photo memory :)

    thanks for writing in!

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