Tosin’s Images & Anecdotes (TIAA) is my self-assigned photography challenge of 2022. The immediate objective is to select one image from my inventory (a cityscape, landscape, portrait, oddity, etc.) each week and write something about it. This “something” could be the story behind the photo, a triggered memory in relation to the photo, or simply a reaction or reflection based on the subject matter featured. The long-term objective is to encourage myself to add more content to “La Vue Atypique”, which celebrates its first decade in publication this year.
What can I say about the photograph(s) above?
This week, my sister came to visit me in Seattle for the second time. Her first visit was in March 2009.
Naturally, a lot of the landscape of the Emerald City had evolved during the intermission — too much of it for her to remember as a lot can change in 13 years.
When she first came in 2009, we visited one of my favorite parks in the Seattle metropolitan area — Seahurst Park in Burien, a suburb to the immediate south of Seattle. Using my Canon PowerShot SD750 pocket camera (a nifty gadget at the time), my sister’s friend captured a candid photo of us jumping from the gravelly sand of the park next to the Puget Sound.
The time was midday, and we were just having fun by the water while inhaling the sweet breezes of the sound. On account of the sun being directly overhead and behind us, the natural lighting was harsh and not as pleasant as one would have during the golden hour. Nevertheless, the photograph became a personal favorite that I later framed in a 4in x 6in picture frame.
Alas, my sister’s return in 2022 sparked an idea — why not recreate the candid moment at the same park around the same time of day? My sister loved the idea and we proceeded to execute the brief photo shoot at Seahurst. The result is the more recent image you see in the slideshow above.
Once again, the lighting was harsh, but that was part of the objective of recreating the moment. We managed to find the spot where we believed we jumped from 13 years previously. As you can see, the park itself has undergone some landscaping. It is less bare in 2022 than in 2009. Aside from this aspect, the landscape is essentially the same, but featuring the same two siblings still synchronizing their leap into time.
The imperfection of both images is part of what I love about both photos. The moment captured itself is more meaningful and significant than the subjective quality of either image. Incidentally, during post-processing of the 2022 image, I discovered that a bit of glare from the sun reflected off my lens, thus creating a very distracting, bright green oval shape that covered part of my face. In my attempt to digitally remove this artifact (which is rarely easy when the artifact appears on the subject’s face), I’m certain that I deleted my right nostril — but you wouldn’t know this unless you saw the image up close.
Oh well!
After my sister’s departure (a few hours from now), I plan to find a dual-frame that can showcase both photographs to commemorate the special occasion.
45 articles down for the TIAA challenge. 7 remain!
A lovely, heartwarming, bright photo! 💜