Page 180 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 5 #2

ty, "I don't." Take me into morning gently
Eyes wide open, she straightened her back And hand me off into the day
and wrapped her hands tightly around the Suddenly I'm running slowly
cup. "I don't believe that for a moment. You
can't tell me that you don't know if a photo Suddenly it all goes dark
is good or...." She didn't finish the sentence, Love may be the end of us, but
and I was in no rush to finish it for her.
As strange as my response had been, what why, why should we fear?
I said was true. I wasn't - I am not - interest- Because with all the wondering,
ed in whether or not a photo is good. My I'm weightless here in my dreams
only interest is whether or not the image
communicates the depth of what I felt at the Suddenly I'm running slowly
moment the shutter was pressed. Suddenly it all goes dark
All I know is that when I am "there" - so in the
moment - that there is a stillness, a silence, Suddenly I'm running slowly
that I feel when I return to an image later. In
the stillness, I remember. Suddenly it all goes dark
"No, it isn't about good and bad at all," I
ventured. I could tell my words didn't reach Courtney Jones - "Weightless "
her - not in the way in which she wanted or
needed them to.
I decided to regroup. "A photograph," I be-
gan, my voice as low and deep as I could
get it, "is a visual invitation to an emotional
experience. The 'test' of an image isn't in its
composition or in its adherence to an arbi-
trary set of cultural expectations. The 'test'
of an image is how effectively - how deeply
- the viewer experiences the same emotion
I experienced when I created the image."
"So, how do you know?"

Suddenly I'm running slowly. Suddenl

180 | Silently Still