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Julia & Alex - Seraphim of Life

Posted by
{H} creatives (San Francisco Bay Area, United States) on 27 November 2008 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

My Dear Friends of the Inspiration Circle,


I wanted to apologize for being so absent for so long. Many of you dear friends know that life has been a bit surreal lately for me. It has been a difficult journey...and even though I believe that this, too, shall then pass, it has been heavy and will continue to be a rough road for me.


Many of you have continued to reach out - and for that I truly appreciate this global community we all have come to love and be fond of: Aminus3. For me it has become a place of solace of sorts where I can drown myself in a sea of inspiration through browsing images after images, post after post. And even though for the past few months I have been more of a sideline participant...often I find myself smiling, laughing, thinking, even crying - moved by the photographs posted by the citizens of AM3. Yet for a while I find myself unmotivated to make images of my own...to pick up the camera and started shooting again - let alone post any images and start p-blogging.


It is during this hiatus that I have done much contemplation - forced by the unfortunate events that I have struggeld with this past one year. I lost the appetite to capture moments, overwhelmed by the negativity that surrounds the events in my life. Things seemed bleak. Dark. Almost hopeless. Alone. But it is in the midst of this despair, I kept holding on to Hope. I relied on Grace...and rediscovered Faith. Not for my sake, but for the beautiful miracle in my life, my daughter Caeshia Evangeline...in the hope for a tomorrow that is better than today. I kept holding on. I kept believing, albeit impossible it seems at times. I kept moving...one day, one hour, one minute of the day - a moment at a time, one dark pit to another. And I found the courage to once again capture life as it unfolds - one click at a time. I finally found myself looking through the lens once again.


And in this act of moving forward, I found that the Almighty does send His seraphim. Not in the forms of wings and white shadows, bright lights and fiery aura, but in the form of people just like you and me. A daughter that is the very miracle of life and the source of purity and joy. Or friends out of the blue birthed from strangers met in the local supermarket. Or co-workers and neighbors seemingly distant that is now closer than family. Or a manager - a former Army officer - disciplined yet with a heart full of compassion, wisdom and understanding. Or a long time high school buddy who opened up his house at a moment's notice. Or a distant kindred spirit who reaches out through the pages a p-blog or Facebook. These are the true seraphim of life...much like the many of you who have reached out to me through this AM3 global community.


So I return to AM3 on this Thanksgiving Day, and decided to post an image that has become very dear to me. An image of such seraphim: Yulya and Alex. She is pure-hearted, simple, and open. Her spirit is free; her mannerism, elegant. A beautiful soul that is meant to make one believe that not all is dark in this world - filled with the vigor of youth and life dedicated to the love of her life, Alex. His stance is tall and handsome, almost "movie-star-esque." His voice calm and extends the openness and curiosity of his heart. His passion is photography - need I say more? B-)


This post is dedicated to these dear friends, and a tribute to those of you who believe in the human spirit - that we are actually beings of good and not of darkness, and to those who decides to "give the other cheek" and "love our enemies." This post is a tribute to all of you at AM3, who reached out to strangers and have made friends and connections with others around the world, without pretense and prejudice - no matter where they live, their belief systems, their faces or the color of their skin.


And in the spirit of Thanksgiving Day (as we celebrate it here in the United States) I wanted to say to you: "Thank you, all." Thank you for continuing to post and to give me the chance to once again believe that photography is truly a "divine opportunity"...and that seraphim do walk among us in this day and age.


Happy Thanksgiving!


Cheers'nBlessings,
{H}


p.s. thank you for posting your comment - I shall come by to your post as soon as I am able.