What Lens Do You Use?

I’m really torn about the date to put on this post as the photo is one that I shared with my writing group as we continue to find our writing inspiration in photos (see Perspective and Snapshots and Ingenuity and Ancestors) on Sept. 14, but I shared with my students on Sept. 28 when we wrote in response to Patricia Hooper’s Lens.

Many people could write to this photo (circa Summer 1978) because there are so many interesting elements to catch the eye and imagination. But each of the individuals in this photo and their parents might write from very different perspectives even though they all lived through this day in this place. I know when I shared this photo with one of the other people pictured their response to the photo was completely different than mine. Similarly, although our memories of that pivotal moment in our lives was definitely the same, they shared detailed memories that I do not remember even with that prompt.

I invite you to write to this image, this poem, or just the ideas of memory and lens.