DeLartes said: Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate your openess to sharing the deep feelings these images are evocking in you. No douibt this is about your own aging process, as it is for me, but possibly also something about these two individuals. Blanca was a very independent self-sufficient woman who has succumed to Alzheimer's and dementia. Guillermo and Blanca met relatively late in life. Since about 6 years ago Guillermo has become her lifeline. As you know from your awarenessess of this, she become delusional, anxious and extremely dependent on him. He's become quite overwhelmed and saddened by this turn of events. They are quite poor, with relatively few social services. They live in public housing and have become increasingly isolated. In working with tGuillermo & Blanca (and others like them),
I sometimes experience a sense of sadness and fear as I see myself peering into the abyss of this condition. No doubt you are picking up on the sadness of this situation. In some ways, I think this photography project is my way of working through the many feelings (fear. love, panic, compassion, sadness, understanding, etc.) that this work brings up for me.Because I'm so close to this series of images, your feedback is really helpful in developing a deeper understanding of this project and where it's taking me. I sincerely hope you are well my friend. Thanks for sharing your own beautiful images on your photostream.
Blessings to you
Subject: Thanks for helping me to deepen in this meditative process through your fine comments......
Hi Carol,
You said:
I don't want to be old and helpless. Beautifully taken photo.
Thanks for your new comment. You have once again gotten me thinking about how I see Don Alfonso and how he copes with his situation. Of course this varies, but I have gotten an ongoing sense of this over the six plus years I've known him.Yes, he is 97 years old and relatively helpless and, yes, it's also hard for me to visualize myself in his place. It's humanly scary, but at the same time, when I've been with him, I've often sensed acceptance and transcendant surrender to his situation. In his case, it seems to flow from a deeply held faith in God, his own unextinguishable inner light of kindness and a sense of trust in his world. I admire and envy this when I'm able to keep my own fears at bay. Hopefully the work we've done together have also been helpful.As I wrote on another occasion, when I’ve seen Don Alfonso clearly, as I sometimes have, I haven't just seen an old man. I've seen the wholeness of his nature... a young man whose future had come to pass... all in the blink of an eye... and I was there to take his picture as the blinking eye opened in the future.Again, thanks for helping me to deepen in this meditative process through your fine comments. The latest version of www.flickr.com/photos/artedelares/396077557/ represents an aspect of Don Alfonso that hint at parts of him that are unkowable but somehow inferrable if only in my friendship, love and respect for him. All the best, Eliud
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