A child briefly wraps their arms around my friend, the parent, before resuming whatever else was in process.  Mundane moments like these evoke mental smiles in me; and the photographer within wishes to have captured it for them, to ask their future selves what the image would conjure.

It is often said that one’s life is defined by the major points along its arc, not the mundane.  However, the things that warm our hearts when we reminisce, or that which we cherish, are often the intangibles.  At least that’s how I drawn to think, be it from the nature of photography work, a personal trait, or perhaps a common thread to growing old.

Particularly the actions which mean little in the moment, and perhaps nothing to onlookers, but hold deeper meaning for those involved.  Like how the hug and expressions of one of your children is unique from another; expressions that perhaps becomes rare as they grow, but the intangible gratitude nevertheless exists.  Or when a childhood friend of a bride stands beside her at the wedding, to remind in an unspoken way, that though they live apart, the friendship is cherished.  Or the simple random actions of a friend.  Or when elderly parents go out of their way to have favorite foods from yesteryears on visits from their adult child.

Or the tenderness of a loved one’s touch.  These intangible moments slip easily from the present, yet linger and remain with us.

She has freckles on her face.  I don’t know why, but they have started to naturally tattoo themselves in my mind like constellations.  Summer is at its tail end.  The pleasant period where the days are warm yet comfortable, the evenings cool, and the light is beautifully at sunrise and sunset.

It has been a relatively dry summer for Seoul.  And heavy rains have been rare.  Though there have been a day or two where the winds blow, the skies darken, and the clouds unleash their downpours.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, NRSV

The days of late summer, and early autumn, are often times the best times of a year.  Some years, these stretches of wonderful days are long, and in some years, short.  Before the fallen leaves in late autumn decompose away.

In life too, winter will come.  However long this stretch of good days will be, I yearn for them to be filled with beautiful intangible moments for her.

 

fields of gold, sung by eva cassidy