February 29th, 2008 admin
As a viewer I am always interested in how the artist got to an image they are presenting. Local photographer Cole Thompson has included such stories in his newsletter. I like them so much that I wanted to pass one on. I recommend subscribing to Cole’s newsletter. He is a photographer that always seems to be on the move. His letters often share stories from his travels.
Here is the image:
Here is the story behind the image:
A couple of years ago when I was photographing flowers, I became fascinated with the Dahlia and was using it to create a three image series to portray youth, middle and old age. For the last image I wanted to contrast the vibrancy of the Dahlia against aged hands that told a story of history and character.
But where could I find such hands? When I visited a local rest home and asked the nurses to recommend someone, they immediately thought of Mildred.
While many of the residents in the home suffered from dementia, Mildred was sharp and alert. When I explained that I wanted to photograph her hands, she made girlish protests about their appearance, but as I began photographing, she seemed to enjoy the attention from the camera. For the next several hours I learned about Mildred and her life, she was alone except for a daughter that lived some distance away.
As I looked at her hands they were like an autobiography with every line representing a different chapter in her life. No single chapter stood out any longer, but now each was like a thread woven into a single fabric. As I photographed her I noticed that she would finger her wedding band and I felt sad for her.
I brought Mildred a copy of the photograph but she was sleeping, and so I left it next to her bed. I have always wondered what she saw when she looked at her own hands in the photograph.
http://www.colethompsonphotography.com
Thanks for sharing Cole.
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