Change

"Life changes in the instant, the ordinary instant." (Joan Didion)

Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking. Vintage Books. New York, New York. 2005

The Year of Magical Thinking is a memoir by Joan Didion in which she recounts an especially trying year of her life. Her husband dies unexpectedly, while her only daughter is struggling to live through pneumonia and brain surgery. Throughout this memoir, Didion repeats the events leading up to these traumatice experiences in great detail. The color of a shirt, a note on the kitchen counter, exact words form converations. It seems that trauma heightens one's senses. She seems to be repeating her memories over an dover agian in order to find some meaning in her life and events taking place.
While reading this book I began to think just how precious memories are. Even simple ones, that at the time may not seem so meaningful or important. I also began to think how quickly things can change, for better ot worse. "In an instant, an ordinary instant," life as you know it can be ripped from beneath you. Everything that you love and care about, everything you work for can disappear.
I began to think about how these thoughts related to my photography. As I look through these videos I can see that life is made up of many differnet moments, all tied together. If one thing went differently, history could be rewritten. My life could be totaly different if my grandmother chose to marry a different man, or if someone died. I may ot even be here. Now I have begun to look at these photos and videos not just as the past, but as a direct line to my life in the present. everything moment that has passed could have affected me on some way. These past meories are my connection to the past as well as the present and the future.