Back in Her Arms

I was heading out to do some nature shooting last April, when I saw the plume of smoke. I parked my car as near as I could get, and as I approached I saw a friend on a stretcher, and went to ask him what happened. He and and his girlfriend had escaped with their lives, but her father died in the blaze, and his body was still inside. I then saw another photog with her camera... and we both were kind of unsure what to do about taking photos, knowing that his remains were still in the house, this was someone we knew, and what a tragedy it was.

As I walked down the block, I spotted the statue of Mary, still standing after the two churches that once stood next to it had previously been razed. I thought, "what a poignant coincidence", and positioned myself to get the fire, ladders, church steeple in the BG, and statue in the scene... again, with the thought of a good man ascending to the after life, just as the firemen were climbing the ladders. So that's my long, rambling story.

Now for the good news--juror Susan Thompson of the Guggenheim Museum of Art in NYC has selected this photograph "Back in Her Arms" as one of nearly 80 images of 1,000 submitted from across the U.S. for display in PHOTOWORK ‘12, the Barrett Art Center’s 25th Annual National Juried Photography Exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY. Odd how life works.