October 23, 2013

Spending time in a graveyard can teach you a lot about living. When I stopped at each grave I swear I could almost hear the silent stories of perfect strangers. Their tombs like silent philosophies of all the ways a life can be lived. Mother. Warrior. Twin. Friend to all, enemy to none. A faithful believer. A lover who knew the greatest joys of being in love with only one. A kind gentle spirit who blessed us all with his presence. And then there were the more subtle stories. The tombs that said silently, they were none of these things. No words, no flowers. Probably died alone and forgotten, because they were a friend and lover to no one. These are the legacies of the lost as they walked the earth and breathed with life. Some people just had a heartbeat while they were here, others, well they really lived with heart. – Simone Nacerema

 

FOCUS:  Place

Seeing as Halloween is only a few days away, it seemed appropriate to visit a graveyard as part of my Project 365.  Mount Olivet is an old Catholic cemetery in Lakewood, Colorado featuring numerous religious statues and grand mausoleums in various states of decay.  It boasts an eery beauty all its own.  At first, I hoping for a dreary, rainy day to add the classic Halloween mood to my images, but instead I was given a day that was beautifully bright and crystal clear.  In many ways, this was a blessing as the bright light and harsh shadows provided a stark reality to the day and kept my photos from becoming too cliché.   Have a look around…