The Viewfinder

A bit ago I won a contest on Darrah Parker's blog and was honored to select a photo from her etsy shop. Darrah is a Seattle-based portrait, family, and lifestyle photographer whose blog and personal journey I have followed for quite a while. I enjoy all of Darrah's photographs, and love this photo in particular.

To me, it looks like one of those old-timey telescopes that are weathered and used to see things far in the distance. I love the colors. But it means more to me than that. It is a reminder that we all see things through a viewfinder--a lens that is uniquely our own which we use to see things to bring them into our world. Our viewfinder is the story we tell about what we see. There is always a story.

I promised Darrah I'd post about the photo, and in the interim I lost Chani. The stories I told about Chani to myself, the actual fact of her passing, even the viewfinder through which I saw her and how she truly was--all of this made the photo even more timely and precious to me. So I wanted to share this with you now.

Also in the interim, Darrah lost her beloved cat Izzy and wrote about it in a very touching way here.

For more information about Darrah, see her web site.

~Photo by Darrah Parker