Happy Captures: “The Cleansing Process”

Greetings and felicitations everyone! Welcome to this fourth issue of “Happy Captures”. So today, I will share to you yet another favorite piece (of mine) from my big box of photographs.

You may have already seen this one sitting quietly along the sidebar of my blog. It has been lurking there since last month.

Regarding its aesthetics, this may probably come off as ugly for some, and I think, not many would appreciate it. And judging by its Flickr stats, it’s not really something to rave about–but I find it cool anyways! Even so, don’t expect it to be much of an eye candy.

Oh, and one more thing…there’s a very sad story that goes with this photo. It involves death. Death happened while I shot it. Curious about the death thingy? Well, there’s just one thing left to do to satisfy your curiosity. And that is, to see the photo and read my story with those inquisitive eyes of yours, after the jump!

Where: This shot was taken along a dark-sanded beach somewhere in Antique, Philippines. I couldn’t remember the exact name of the resort, nor its exact location in Antique. I can’t seem to retrieve the name of the place from my subconscious, so whatever. Haha!

Anyway, the resort could literally be called “deserted”, were it not for our presence. It was a bit creepy there, I tell you. It was one of those beaches that someone would opt to choose as a perfect-est, and most suitable location to bid goodbye to the cruel world, get drowned, and disappear without somebody even knowing that you did just that. (Not that I’m giving you any idea, no? Being a MAN, and facing the music no matter what happens remains the BEST and ONLY solution to get away from those problems. So BE A MAN! Face them! )

When: The photo will turn one year old on the 12th of May, 2009. So technically, it’s more or less than ten months old as I’m writing this. The period when I took it was my second time to go to that region of the country, and my first time ever in the province Antique. I went there with my pop to accompany him as he worked on some business stuff, and to unwind for a li’l bit coming directly off the heels of our mind and energy-draining Summer Affiliation.

We were in the middle of a storm during our stay there. Luckily though, rainfall was not continuous, so I had the opportunity to go fulfill some of my trigger-happy needs. But in the absence of rain, the storm sent some feelers as evidenced by the dark gloomy sky, the very strong winds, and the violent waves. Take that! The month of May was still supposed to be a sunny, summery month; but due to climate change, rainy season arrived waaaaaaay early.

How: On to the technical part, well…just like my previous features, coming up with the above shot was no easy job! I experimented with the camera settings, tried different angles, various positions…you know, stuff like that…before I got a nice enough result.

I had to deal with nature’s forces while shooting it: the backstabbing rain that appeared and disappeared whenever it wanted to; and the raging sea, which really made an attempt to tackle me and put me down as it sent forth its waves. As I braved ravishing waters from above and from below, DEATH happened. Those factors brought about death…DEATH.

It was the last day that my beloved camera functionally captured the light photons ecstatically floating in the atmosphere. Simply put, it was the day that my digital camera died.

I’ll never forget that day: May 12, 2008.

I won’t provide anymore details on its death, because I’m still not over with the grieving process yet. Haha! Now, what remains left is the solid proof that no one can really battle with the forces of nature. Mess with nature, mess with death!

Why: I love using the sea as a subject. I love how the sea conveys a mystic feel to it; I love how it looks as if it has a mind of its own; I love how it exudes power, calmness, balance and versatility at the same, just at different points and times; and I love how it has this ability to draw someone’s attention. And I can only understand how and why: because God is such a genius!

Soooo…I captured the scene without having something in mind…really. The idea just came off, spontaneously. I took it, and then it collected dust and cobwebs in my archives for almost a year, before I came to realize the special something in it…and then when I did, I decided to give it a name. Alas, I called it “The Cleansing Process”.

Why “The Cleansing Process”, if you may ask? Well, I came up with that title during the time when I was feeling really bad about something…low…er, “depressed” would have to be the right term. Yes, I was depressed. I was depressed about having to think of a lot of pressures, mostly from the current demands that I needed to meet, thoughts about the coming graduation (and the chances of not being able to march this April), and thinking about how life would be after graduation. (Read: In The Open Field)

Getting carried away by those stressful thoughts, the least that I could do to straighten myself up is by channeling my thoughts into writing and through something that I liked most–photography. And in the name of perfect timing, that was when I chanced upon this photo (in my archives) of my feet (yes, those were my precious feet!) sprinkled with some dirt, kissing the sand, feeling the waves, and getting cleaned by the waters as if the sea was a giant foot bath. Kidding aside, looking at it prompted me to make a short poem out of the scene, drawn out exactly from what I felt during that down moment of mine…

“The Cleansing Process”

Let all burdens flow.
Let the waves soothe you.
Let the grudges go away.
Let the pain subside.

Free your mind.
Open your heart.
Forgive and forget.
Live and let live.

/02.21.2009

The feet represents “me”, “you”, “us”…the people. The sand represents “life”. The light dusting of dirt on the feet represents “our troubles in life”. The water represents “God”. As we walk along the sandy paths of life, every once in a while we will encounter trials and tribulations–dirt. Some may be removed easily while some, with extreme difficulty. But no matter how difficult it is to remove them, the strong water current will be able to do so; just like how it is with God that we will find the greatest solution. The grace of God starts when our strength fails. And thus, the cleansing process begins.

“My precious child, I’d never leave you.
I have carved you on the hollow of My hand.
It’s then I carried you in My arms,
When you see one set of footprints in the sand.”

By simply doing our part in things first, rest assured…God will do the rest. We may be hurt at some point, but that’s just God putting us up to the test. In the end, as we finish the test, God will welcome us with open arms where we can finally be at rest. He doesn’t want us to be harmed…for us, he just wants what’s best.

So there you have it for my fourth happy capture! Hope you got something out of this. Enjoy the rest of the week guys! God bless us all.