@johnstanmeyer

As a photograph of information, I was fine with this image published double-page in the @natgeo story, Hope In Hell. It explained the rush to airlift food to tens of thousands of people cut off from the rest of Sumatra when every road and bridge was ripped to ruin by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Yes, it describes how the U.S. military worked in the heat on that day in early January 2005. A sense of landscape amidst a continuous movement of helicopters rising and landing. Lines of troops layered politely with no one overlapping. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ In recent years I have become bored with layers upon layers upon layers. It became too simple. When I go back into my mind's time machine of that day in Banda Aceh, I have no idea how I would see this frantic, loud, sweating situation. What I can perceive today is not solely getting lost in the known occurrence of the moment. There are always hidden silent touches. When we open ourselves to feel, these quiet tremors become louder than the sum of the whole event, beyond being caught within only recording a moment of history. Sharing with you tonight this photograph in open vulnerability that I do not intend this moment to be in the monograph. There is always something more... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We will go into these critically enlightening thoughts this August in Tbilisi and when we gather here at home in the Berkshires next month (Bali is full). Details of these two remaining workshops are in my Instagram bio. I do hope you will join us. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #natgeo #storytelling #indonesia #BandaAceh #monograph #book