The beauty

If I could only have stopped Your hand, oh Lord. If I could have only stopped Your hand, God, and put the label “DO NOT PAINT” on each one of us. You have overestimated us. We've got passports and flags, we the stupid people. We see flags and skin, but we see no heart behind the eyes. We think we know, but we have no idea.

Sometimes I wish that everybody could just for a moment see the world with the eyes of the deprived. The colours, the light, the hearts. If you want to be a photographer you have to see first. We have the responsibility, you know. We can suggest things to the audience. We can lead them think this way or that way. We can fool them and they will be happy. You can tell a story and leave the interpretation to the audience, or you can show them your interpretation. Take a look at this tree, pictured on the left. I could have taken the picture of this tree against the stone wall that was on the opposite side, and it would lose all its glory. It's like a soldier with amputated limbs who is still full of desire to live on, it is even transmitting its will to live to the ivy. The clouds above represent the dreams, the goals. On the left you can see two more trunks that seem to have given up the fight for life. The fight for the survival. Dead tree, some might say. But at this specific moment I was there, the light was perfect and the composition was great. There was a story with a beautiful idea.

What always excites me is when I see the heart behind the idea. When I see somebody can see. When I realise someone can see deeper than skin, deeper than age, deeper than race. If you can see the beauty behind the dead tree, wrinkled skin, smile of the homeless person, if you can see people in every city and every nation, then the world is your home, your playground and your office. Take a photo of the beauty, but not the beauty as defined by the media, not the beauty that sells, not the beauty that has the expiry date.

What is beautiful to you might be of no relevance to the others. Make it seen, in the best light, with the best background. Make them see what you see. Be colour blind, age blind, flag blind, religion blind, look through and beyond.