"Hold on! Let me get my camera!" She swished out of the water, her large gold hoop earrings glinting in the sun. The tourist, a complete stranger, waited at the top of a 35-foot drop. The teenaged girl grabbed her camera--not bothering to dry her hands--positioned, and focused.
"Okay," she said. "I'm ready. Go."
The tourist jumped off the cliff, straightened into a pencil before hitting the water.
"Got it!" she told him.
He swam across the blue hole to her and grinned at his mug on her camera screen. The tourist left, and the girl got back in the water with her friends until the next tourist climbed the ancient ragged coral to the top of the cliff.
She didn't sell these photographs, nor did any of the jumpers ask to have the photo email, but she faithfully snapped one after another, marking achievements of man and woman. One particular occasion she waited a half hour while the man girded up his courage. Locals gathered, goading and encouraging the man. His older brother climbed the coral for a second time to talk help him. Hands on hips, he peered down into the water considering the danger. His brother told him he could walk back down, but by now too many people watched. His pride was on the line. The brother made his second jump. Meanwhile, the teenaged girl held her camera steady. When he jumped, she captured his moment of victory.
I don't know what she did with this photos. Most likely deleted them. Maybe she collected them in a collage. In this case, that wasn't the point. Each time she depressed the shutter release, she acknowledged that this moment was memorable.
This, in part, is what an artist does. We capture moments, victorious, tragic, mundane, extraordinary, beautiful, even ugly. We capture moments of grace and of grace rejected. We mark them, and we share them so others may know that they're not alone. In doing so, we proclaim that humanity and the human life is sacred.
Heather A. Goodman records moments like these in a variety of notebooks, including a Nancy Drew pad carried in her purse. She shares some of these moments on her website, L'Chaim.
"We capture moments . . . We mark them, and we share them so others may know that they're not alone."
Well said, Heather! I love what that girl did for the cliff jumpers. Great story. Great insight. Thanks!
Posted by: Jeanne Damoff | June 22, 2010 at 07:40 AM
Yes. This is what we do. I am so grateful to be an artist, recording these... I think I get to be more alive than so many people.
Posted by: Kelly Langner Sauer | June 22, 2010 at 07:50 AM
I love this post.
Posted by: Elaina | June 25, 2010 at 03:42 AM