During this summer, I am working on several projects I have been procrastinating on, such as revamping my website which has been in desperate need of updating for too long. As I have been editing my portfolio with new work and making decisions on old work, I came across this project I started several years ago. Remember life before the pandemic?
My milk bath series started out with a strong vision and great enthusiasm. I wanted to get a at least 20 or so people from a variety of backgrounds of all ages to pose for me in a bath tub filled with warm water mixed with about half a gallon of milk to make the water white and opaque. At first I asked friends that I felt comfortable asking and knew they would most likely say yes to this kind of thing. I thought it would be a great project to work on during the long Minnesota winters. Who wouldn’t want to lay in a bath tub immersed in warm water surrounded by plants and a photographer standing over them with one foot on each rim of the tub? I have to say, these few shoots I did consisted of lots of fun and laughter throughout.
But the project came to a halt for several reasons. I couldn’t find a proper place with a bath tub to shoot in, and I somehow lost my courage to ask people, especially people I thought would be great subjects but I didn’t know very well. And then, the pandemic hit and life changed for all of us.
I have thought about this project on and off but I think I lost interest in it over time (so I tell myself), and I became too busy with other work and life. The story of unfinished projects.
Skills and visions evolve and change over time, so I look at these images taken several years ago with a (very) critical eye. I like them, but I would do a lot differently now and consider shooting in color as well.
Broadly speaking, this project was an attempt to express the humanity in all of us, to show the commonalities that connect us rather than divide us - the stories of how we came into this world emerging from the warmth of our mother’s womb, nursed and brought up with the basic desires for warmth and safety, and a desire to be seen and loved for who we are. The plants represent our undeniable, strong but often lost connection to nature and to the seasons of life, and ultimately the finite condition of our lives here on earth.
Here are the rest of the images that came into being. Maybe some projects aren’t meant to be, or, maybe because I can’t fully let go of it, I should re-think, re-invest and possibly continue? Time will tell. Let me know what you think.
Thank you for reading!
To welcome the weekend and celebrate the longest day of the year, I am sharing another one of Mary Oliver’s poems.
The Sun
Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderfulthan the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizonand into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides againout of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flowerstreaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasurethat fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms youas you stand there,
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?
– Mary Oliver
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There’s a seed here, Manuela! I think it’s worth pursuing especially if your heart is calling you to continue. The last image with her eyes closed is particularly stunning. I agree with you— perhaps photographing in color might render a different mood. Like you, I also have several unfinished projects. It’s part of the process when we’re trying to test our ideas. I’d love to see where this one goes if you decide to pick it up again. Thank you for sharing another lovely post!
Love the series Manuela. I hope you continue it. There is something about these photographs that touched me.