Robin is a beautiful woman with dark ebony skin and a full robust voice that always reminds me of the deep and indistinguishable strength of black women. She's steady on her feet and her NY accent always brings me back to the east and whether I could live in NYC as I know my family wishes. Her hair is in long locs and dotted by tiny curls of grey that frame a full and round face that surrenders easily to smiles and laughs. I love her laugh because it is like mine; totally its own creature and yet uniquely Robin.
Robin is a photographer. But she is not like some others who I've known who also call themselves photographers. She is a student on her way to becoming a master; and by saying master, I mean that she is intent on learning every element related to her craft and how these elements affect and define each treasured image. A master here I think of as someone with a lifelong pursuit of learning because a true artist's thirst for their craft is so inexhaustible. Robin is always looking for that stolen moment, and she wants to photograph everything. From the bee that's creeping under a petal to the key lime cupcake we had from one of the lunch trunks. She finds something to love about each shot she takes, and she tries to capture something of that affection in each image. She wants what spills forth from the camera to show something of her in each take and to reveal the connection she's made with her subject. She wants her observer to be with her when she captures that shot, and I think that what makes her work come alive.
As we talked I asked her if she had a mission statement, and the one she shared was simple and powerful, though she feared it might sound a little too cheesy. She shared that what she was seeking was to reveal the oneness of life in her photography, to show all the connectedness that we have found between ourselves and the life around us. That one life is never separate and is always connected to us as we are connected to the earth. There are many things I take away from Agape, and one of the grandest thoughts has been that God is us. That the central spiritual being is not watching us, but is to be found within us and within all the blessings of the earth, and I found myself moved by her wish and desire to have her work do just that--move people.
While this nature and enlightenment conversation was happening, she saw a man happen to walk by. He was a graceful figure dressed all in white straight out of the old Chinese films I used to watch when I was a child. He was wearing the same slippered shoes and a simple cotton tunic top. He was a small but very striking man with a handsome face, and beautiful laugh wrinkles that framed large eyes that never seemed to stop twinkling. As he walked by and greeted us, she asked ever so politely if she could photograph him. He respectfully asked why and eventually refused, but I was so taken by her small and genuine gesture. And apparently so was he, because after he completed his tai chi exercises in another part of the park, he came back to us and so began a longer conversation that began with fear and a revelatory 8 hours later ended in love.
As Robin and I talked after this wonderful conversation with this teacher and observer of life and love, she asked me if I had gone on her blog and seen her work, and I realized sadly that I had not. I realized in this one moment, I had not been her friend and had not supported her or her work. It's funny because when I sat down to write the snapshot of this day, I had planned to write about this glorious man who shared so much with us. Robin and I had come there both holding a lot of fear about which paths and choices we should make, and that fear had all dissolved in the presence of this man; but it wasn't because of him I realized, it was because of her. Her openness had left such an impression on this man, that he came back to us and in turn shared his most personal remembrances, lessons and thoughts; he had very literally poured out his soul and let us bathe in it.
What so much of this century's modern work (and even social discourse) lacks, is authenticity; but not only authentic work, but authentic people--people who are sincere and open and allow themselves to be opened and to open up to others. In so many ways our culture has learned how to speak the words, but not to walk in the way that we describe. We have become so mired in a face of artificiality that we can't even see the reality of what's important in our own lives. I believe that is a force that we must continue to combat in our daily life with these characters of life that can't be forgotten: love, truth and presence. So I commend Robin for not only making me see my own contribution to this unspoken fallacy, but also for providing a very rare authenticity to her work. It makes her work really live and breathe and in so many of the photos, I see exactly her love and spirit in the work she has created. This is her site. http://lovebeyondwords.posterous.com/?tag=photography&page=3 Please approach with care because you just might fall in love with her too.
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