A Photo's Worth. . .

A thousand words, right? Lately, as I've been perusing thousands upon thousands of ASCEND's photos for an upcoming presentation, I've been doubting the truth of that adage. After collecting what I believed to be the most inspirting, I have to concede that I agree with the sentiment behind the saying.

In a photograph, we see many things. Sometimes there is consensus of what the photograph is saying: 'joy', 'grief', etc., but sometimes, if we are lucky, the sliver of the moment when the photograph was taken lays the human spirit bare, and we who look in are rendered speechless.

In ASCEND's collection of photographs, there are many stirring things; the gloved hands of a volunteer worker heaving dirt, the smile of a Ecuadorian school-girl, the distracted glance of an Ethiopian mother. Each photograph is beautiful in its own right, which initially aroused my suspicion. "What's it worth?" "Yes, it's lovely, yes the light is just right, and yes it will entrance whoever looks upon it, but what is it conveying?"

After all, a photograph is a logical, mechanical thing- and it's something I've always appreciated for conveying 'truth' to the world. However, as ASCEND's photo collection proves, even a mechanical thing such as a photograph can hitch on something unexpected that makes us pause, that causes us to register sentiment with logic. It's a jarring combination, but stinging clear and eloquent at heart.

The purpose, then, of this little diatribe, is to perhaps share my sense of confounded logic and sentiment to you. The hope is that you will look at ASCEND's photo, and let your gaze linger a little while longer as you register logic and emotion in the same intrigued/perplexed fashion as I did.