Yesterday my friend Daniel Martini posted his latest round of photos on his blog DMartini's Photoblog. Daniel shoots in black and white film, an art that is almost lost to this world. Since I first started visiting his blogs last October, I have been touched deeply by his ability to capture the light and soul of his subjects. He is currently living and working near Mumbai, India. I highly recommend a thorough viewing of the photoblog, and also of his other blog, Faces, Lives, where he writes in depth stories about his amazing experiences and the people he has had the fortune to connect with. The following photo really affected me, and Daniel has graciously allowed me to repost it here, along with this poem:
Run, child, run
Run into your life,
Your playground
Is the stuff of yesterday’s dreams
Now crumbled and turned to dust
In the heat of a melting earth.
You will dance to the music
Banged on tin cans left
In rotting heaps,
You will find the jewels
On the mounds of forgotten hope,
In the smile of a mother’s love
You will dance into tomorrow.
29 comments:
Congratulations for making it to 100th post Cat.
I'm almost halfway there. :D
The photo is amazing. It jumps out to you and screams in so many ways.
And your poem did complete justice to it. Having witnessed these conditions first hand, I know how deep the scar goes.
This is just wonderful.
Congratz on ur 100th post :)
the foto has a magical effect to it!! seems like its taking us to a ride into its own world!! illusion!!
and the poem is beautiful!
god bless ya!
Great Snaps Cath
You made it to the big hundred. Congrats!!! I enjoy your site immensely.
congrats on your 100th! and thanks for the links, i'm on my way to check them out. what you posted here's amazing!
Congrats on this wonderful blog milestone Cat!
And thank you for sharing this beautiful photo and your fitting poem to accompany it. Inspiring!
HEAVY DUTY, Cat. The photo, the words, the big 100!!!
Happy 100th, Cat! You're awesome! I can't wait to see all the fabulous posts ahead.
Thanks for your recommendations on Daniel Martini's blogs. I will definitely check them out.
The poem evokes much sadness - a tender verse tinged with a little hope.
Hi girl! Congrats on 100th.
The post, photo and poem, just profound! Thank you for sharing your friend's work. I'll have to visit his place...
I love you too, Cat! Have a wonderful weekend!
~ Calli
This was a tough picture/post. Important and your words are amazing, but I am in a place right now where I can't take more in. So I will just say happy 100 and I'll come back to this in a bit.
Oh, my! This is what poetry is about -- capturing and encapsulating something so raw and presenting the reader with beauty and truth. This is a wonderful take on the photo.
Thanks for the recommendation on Daniel's blog, and congrats on your own milestone!
Aniket, thank you, how about that photo, huh? Daniel is amazing. Your words about the poem mean a lot to me. :-)
Sawan, Cori, Greener B, Steveroni, Geraldine, a great big thank you. :-)
K. I hoped the poem would come acros that way. Thank you. :-)
Calli-Thank you, it will be well worth the visit.
Jennifer-I hope everything is ok? Hugs.
Karen- I really really appreciate your words on the poem. thank you.
Gorgeous!!!
The photo is stunning..so is ur poem. I felt a pain, I can't say why...but felt a deep pain. The picture and the words have such great power that I feel terrible.
A very moving post.
Congrats on your 100th post Cathy!!
May you come up with such Soul-stirring posts in the years to come.
Have a Wonderful Day!
Hey Cat -
Enduring words, compassionate.
Oh and Brava - your 100th post!
And a post that brings praise
to another - good girl/woman!
every child needs to dance...
every child needs to dance...
I like your b&w photo near the Golden Gate Bridge - nicely done. Also, congrats on your 100th post. As for this post: interesting how the photographer captures the child; you don't know the circumstances from viewing it, whether he's happy or whether he's sad; the photograph gives us a "rushed" view of the rubble and freezes the child in action.
Yay!!! you're celebrating 100 too.. :)
the photograph is amazing... it doesn't stay quietly on your screen...
i'll definitely be checking out the link you gave...
and your poem, cat,was so beautiful... this is something i see every day. your poem really touches a chord...
Cat, you just made my day with this website! I can't thank you enough. I've not seen black and white photos like these in many, many years. What a photographer! And I must tell you your poem "did" beautiful justice to this photo. Thanks so much for making my day!
m
ps: I enjoyed your family photos. Almost didn't recognize your brother.
brava, cat! a perfect 100!!! & props for daniel~~ awesome, he is.
Cat - There's an award for you at my place.
Congrats on the century!
Very cool picture and the poem is well written.
Here's to the next 100!
Best wishes.
Deepa- I know the subject matter is hard...but real never the less. I thank you. :-)
Cynthia- I really appreciate what you said, many thanks to you and a great big hug!
Paul-Ho! So true.
JR- Thanks!
LGL-Don't know what I'd do without you! Thanks. :-)
QDB-Mutual admirers of Daniel we are. :-) Thanks Deb.
Karen, Thank you! Aw! :-) Really appreciated. And you are one fantastically great blogging buddy.
Minister-Thanks!
Mom's friend, it's so great to see you here again! It's been ages. I hope all is well with you M. :-)
Excellent words! Your poem is so beautifully poignant. I feel a sense of sadness in the playground "crumbled and turned to dust" and the other powerful images of rotting heaps, etc. But at the same time, you give us hope.
I just looked at the website, and it is amazing. Thanks so much for your poem and for the pictures.
Congratulations on #100! I was going to say I hope you'll be around for a thousand more; instead, I hope you'll ALWAYS be here:)
A very fitting post, your 100th, Cat.
Daniel Martini's photo is incredible, the illusion of it running at you from the screen almost dizzying.
Every child will eventually run into her life - your poem is beautiful, sad and hopeful at the same time.
It really is all about perspective, isn't it?
I cannot help but hope that with greatest suffering comes the capacity for the purest joy. The desire to dance is universal, and I hope this child continues to hear the music through the hardships and years.
Beautifully evocative, Cat, and that photo is unbelievable.
Happy 100th post, too!! I hope there will be hundreds (dare I say thousands?) more. :)
Julie, thanks for going to Daniel's website. His photos are indeed stunning, and especially because I know that he has personally connected with each person he has photographed, and both he and they are clearly touched by that meeting. Besides which, he's just an amazing photographer and doing it the old school way just increases my respect. Thanks as always for your comments Julie, your presence means a whole lot to me.
Vesper, I know! The photo background totally looks like it is moving, when actually it is the child that is moving. It is a chance in a lifetime kind of shot, and I'm so glad Daniel got it! It should win awards, that photo. The child comes from a very sad situation, but I know from my experience in India that extreme poverty does not necessarily equal misery. Let us hope this child will always find joy in small things. I really appreciate you Vesper, thanks for coming over.
Sarah, it is so much about perspective, and it is hard to think we have anything to complain about when we see how dire circumstances can really be, and really are for so many. We are not so far in this country really, we just are better at illusion here. IMHO. Thank you so much for you comments, they mean the world to me. :-)
Sarah
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