Photography Prose–Comfort

If a picture speaks a thousand words, imagine the power of marrying a photograph with words.  We asked a few professional photographers to tell us a story, and give us their take on a word or phrase, both verbally and visually.  Columbus Ohio child photographer Rebecca Mudrick accepted our first challenge this month and created a piece of Photography Prose based on the word “Comfort.”

I take comfort in books.  Books have been my ever-faithful companions through loss, loneliness, frustration and despair.  Most recently, my family moved and as soon as we arrived at our new house – a few states away from the old one – I pulled out a much loved, dog-eared novel.  Reading it again was like being back in the familiar warmth of friends I love in a town I was missing.  My oldest child has inherited this same comfort in books: when his autistic brain can’t make sense of the social complexities of the 5th grade recess or lunch hour, he pulls out a book and reads.  I take comfort knowing he has his books.

C.S. Lewis – both articulate and wise – said, “Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality. There are mass emotions which heal the wound; but they destroy the privilege. In them our separate selves are pooled and we sink back into sub-individuality. But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.”

Oh yes, I take great comfort in books.

So, now I want to know, what brings you comfort?  Leave us a comment below, we would love to hear.  In the meantime, you can enjoy more of Rebecca’s beautiful work on her website  Darling Art and by visiting her popular blog Overexposed.

If you would like to take part in a Photography Prose challenge or if you have a story to tell with your photography, we would love to hear from you.  Please send us an email at dena@photographercafe.com and we’ll get you started!