More Than a Thousand Words

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”  How often have you heard this phrase being used?  Most everyone has heard it at one time or another as it’s a very commonly used phrase spoken to try and convey how important a picture is and how much information it can share with the observer about what happened.  I didn’t start out loving photography and in fact, when I was younger it would probably resemble hatred more than anything else.  I had a knack for refusing to be in pictures making quite the scene if it was going to be forced on me.  As I matured I began to recognize photography in its basic form of capturing a moment in time to help remember something by.  Pictures were great at summer camps so as not to forget the face of a new friend.  I can tell quite a few stories about my summers at Lake Beauty Bible Camp near Long Prairie, Minnesota, from the pictures I have.

Visiting cousins in Sweden

I think one of my more recent experiences with photograpy will really help me convey my point of the importance of photography.  Last year, September of 2010, I had the opportunity to spend some time with family in Sweden.  My paternal grandfather, or Far Far as he would be called in Swedish, came from Sweden-or rather his parents and older sister did while he and his younger brother were born in America.  I’ve dreamed of going to visit cousins still over there and learn more about this side of my family.  *If you ever have the opportunity to study your family’s genealogy, I HIGHLY recommend it.*  Anyway, I spent a couple days exploring the beautiful capital of Stockholm before traveling outside the city to the small villages of Bleckenstad and Vingåker.  It was during my time with these people, only a couple of whom I’d met many years before when they came to the visit my Grandpa, that I’ve taken my best pictures ever—pictures at the farm where my Great-Grandmother was born or the church and gravesite where my Great-Great Grandparents are buried, or pictures of us in the forest picking lingon (lingonberries) or just spending time together talking.  These are the pictures you want to take, the ones that have a solid connection to the future and the past, the place where history and the future converge and intermingle.  It’s not necessarily what is in the picture that’s so powerful but the message that the picture has to share with the world.  To some people maybe it’s a picture of a lake cabin with family, or a horse or other pet that was like a family member.   The possibilities are endless and unique to each individual story.

Gravesite of Great-Great Grandparents

These stories are going to tell you about the people and the culture you’re spending time in.  My pictures of Sweden show me the relaxed and modern lifestyle of the Swedish people.  How they can become one with nature and respect the world around them.  I greatly respect the Swedes for their treatment of the environment as well as their openness to helping others (including tourists who are looking a little lost J).  Pictures can help you to observe the world around us-capturing lifestyles and aspects of culture we maybe don’t see or truly recognize while in the moment.  Being able to look at my pictures in the city and see streets with no trash on them is a marvel and the people of Sweden need to be thanked for maintaining a city that is going to continue to draw people back.

Stockholm, Sweden

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Sweden, in its beautiful green and rolling countryside and the historic and yet modern cities of Stockholm and Linköping and I’m looking forward to the day I am able to go back.  I enjoy browsing through my pictures and remembering my days traveling there and reminiscing about memories of old and newly formed memories.  Pictures not only capture a moment in time, but even more so, they tell a story.  Through those pictures you can share your stories for generations to come.   Pictures such as these truly are worth a thousand words and maybe to you, they’ll be worth more than a thousand words.  So enjoy taking pictures whenever you get the chance, just make sure you don’t spend all of your time looking through the lens of a camera.  J

Farm site at Sandkulla, Sweden