While I believe Becky has in mind using different apertures, focusing, and distance to show how one can achieve different perspectives in photography, I thought I would approach it from a lighter perspective for my first square of this month’s challenge. This friendly, exuberant, (and surprised) urban squirrel was observing me from four different perspectives!*
#1 Uh oh! Caught in the act!
#2 I’m really not so sure about this…..
#3 Maybe it’s safe…….. I’ll try it out.
#4 Oh, you seem to be friendly, and your dog does too, so…. TA-DA. Here I am in all my exuberance, complete with tail!
*I don’t normally do this, and I think it’s technically against the rules, but I got carried away and combined….. four challenges. My own exuberance got the better of me.
Fortunately I had gathered these items over the fall and winter before the Shelter In Place order. At some point I will use my new camera and lens to experiment with settings.
My father landed D-Day +3 on Utah Beach and survived the Second World War. Five years ago, my husband and I took a long awaited trip to France. One of the places we went was to Normandy. As I stood on this beach (the only one of the five landing beaches we were allowed to walk on), I tried to take in not only its sheer beauty, but also the enormity of what had happened here in 1944. I bent down, scooping up a large handful of sand, and held it, thinking of all the soldiers who had landed here to help liberate France and Europe. Many lost their lives in the process.
Everywhere we went in Normandy, we saw plaques, statues and museums to commemorate the beginning of the end of the war and the breaking of the Nazi’s death grip on France. I couldn’t help but be humbled by France’s gratitude.
I think the beauty, vastness and history of this beach has something to impart to us in our own troubled time. The scourge of COVID 19, like WW II, leaves us in a world with the stark differentiation of before and after. Our world has changed, never to be quite the same. I take comfort not only from the memory of the soldiers who landed on this beach, but also from the people of France. They endured great hardship and privation, yet emerged into a world they could rebuild. For me, it helps put the current #ShelterInPlace directive in perspective. Added to that I realize that while this is difficult, I am among the lucky in that my income and housing are not affected while I remain confined to my apartment, and I have access to enough food. All of that makes me think, “This is hard, but I can do this. I may at times be teary or grumpy about it, or overwhelmed, or scared, but I can do this. I must do this. It is a small price to pay to keep myself and others safe.
Zebra's Child 