12×12 committee member Lesley Tetlow Stefanski shares a story of her love for photography in this post. Do you want to share your story with the world? Drop us a line and we’ll feature it right here.
The shiny perforated waste basket seemed to glare at me from its shaded corner, as if it knew what I was about to toss into it. I tried to keep my eyes and mind on the task at hand but I couldn’t help but frequently glance at its silver mouth, hoping it wouldn’t suddenly come to life and gobble up my hand when I would eventually let go of the contents that I was gathering.
I sat on the floor surrounded by black wooden frames, faded by the sun and with nicks in different places from being used over time. I purchased the frames at different thrift stores to use as decor in my studio. Wanting a eclectic look, I sourced different styles and sizes to achieve the effect. But in the process I had found myself with a collection of photographs that I had removed from the frames beside me that I didn’t quite know what to do with.
The photos were all different – some black and white of girls in knee length skirts and high ponytails, a beautiful landscape of a barren desert, a couple sitting close together at a BBQ laughing into the lens. They were all beautiful and froze a piece of time that I wanted to jump into and experience myself.
Once my eyes and my imagination had had its fill of looking through the photographs, I quickly gathered them up and walked over to the corner concealed by the side table and let the photographs flitter into the bottom of the waste basket, quietly thanking whomever had left them in the frames for letting me have a peak into their world. It broke my heart a little to be tossing out the photographs, but I didn’t know what else to do with them.
The newly refinished frames are currently hanging in my studio space, now filled with images I’ve taken of my clients. I always smile at them whenever I pass, because I’m excited that I’ve captured a place in time of my clients happy and enjoying life and I hope someday, someone else will be wanting used frames and will pick mine and enjoy looking back into what life was like.
You can read more of Lesley’s musings and see more of her photos on her blog.
