It was a heavy heart day. I wept when I watched a dear friend at his father's funeral, and I wept when I heard the readings, and poems, and diary entries, and I wept when I heard a rich male voice sing a hymn and "I'll Fly Away," and I wept as the ashes gently made their way into the ground--touched by those who loved him and will miss him. All of these tears--they came and left, and then we hugged and made our way out of the ancient cemetery. I stopped by the mausoleum, struck by its beauty, I took off my heals, exited the car barefoot, and quickly snapped this shot before driving to the reception, where I hugged my dear friend again.
So sorry about your loss and the emotional day you had. Love the detail and texture in this shot. I'm smiling at the pure dedication you have - to be engulfed in grief, yet still stopping to take a photo!
@jayberg@grammyn@timandelke@catwoman2@tomsde@jodimuli@featherstone@rvwalker@ness50@jo13@zambianlass@nicoleterheide Oh, thank you all for your kind words and comments. Our sad news continues--my sisinlaw's father passed away last night. I'm afraid these past few days were just meant to be sad. Tonight is the annual celebration of our "Correy" who I've posted about before. I hope to capture something from that to post, and then I'm going to rest--weary. :(
Exhausting emotionally I'm sure. Do you find that your camera gives you a little solace? I find that it's a way of giving myself a little breathing space sometimes. This mausoleum is incredible.
@m9f9l Thanks for your comments. I find that the camera is a great solace in times like these for me. I have to be careful to not pull it out with others as it evokes a different feeling sometimes. Last night, I asked to take photos of the lanterns we sent up in the sky for the memorial/celebration of a young girl who died 3 years ago. Sometimes having the camera gives me a sense of purpose while my emotions rage within.
@lunaksi Thanks very much for your comments. The mausoleum was so dramatic against the hills of cemetery stones and crypts. We had been on the hill, but I wanted to drive by the massive mausoleum because it was so uncharacteristic of southern architecture.
Beautiful and dramatic photo though.