This week’s Photo Friday challenge – Woman – left me in something of a quandry, mostly because I really wanted to reuse the various images I’ve posted recently of my wife when she was pregnant in 2001. The images I’ve already used were taken six days before our daughter was born, and would have been excellent for this week’s challenge, not least because they capture so many aspects of womanhood – sensuality, motherhood, pregnancy, power … and so on. But I promised myself that I wouldn’t reuse any images for these challenges so, for a while, I wasn’t too sure what to use.
I did think about trying to take some pictures this week, but my wife and our two youngest have been ill over the last few days so nobody was really in the mood for taking any new pictures – so it was back to the archives. And then I found this one, taken six days after the previous images, and just over one hour after our daughter was born.
I decided it would be suitable for this week’s challenge for many of the reasons mentioned above, but there’s also a slight tongue-in-cheek element with the phone. My wife would probably argue that this is just another example of multi-tasking – giving birth, breastfeeding, talking on the phone – but it struck me that the image does portray something (stereo)typical of womanhood. But, more importantly, it captures some of the happiness of those first few hours, something that’s always worth recording :-)
comment bysquishybear at 11:18 PM (GMT) on 10 January, 2004
Wow! So many things that encompass being a woman in the same image.
Beautiful!
comment by djn1 at 11:54 PM (GMT) on 10 January, 2004
squishybear: thanks, I do think this image captures some of the things I was trying to convey.
comment byangela at 05:02 AM (GMT) on 11 January, 2004
i remember being at the point. baby just born, now to call the family. perhaps the proudest moment in my life. this picture conjures up so many memories. wonderful job! and one more thing. b&w definitely did it justice. I think color would have brought a little bit of an overwhelming feeling..
comment byGregz at 10:38 AM (GMT) on 11 January, 2004
Noteworty if you ask me..
comment by djn1 at 01:32 PM (GMT) on 11 January, 2004
angela: thanks. One of the difficulties with this theme, as I saw it, was that I didn't want to present a man's perspective of what being a woman might mean - that seemed too easy - so it's reassuring that my image brought back (pleasant) memories for you.
Gregz: thanks.
comment by Maxine at 04:55 PM (GMT) on 11 January, 2004
I would love to see the man, to see 'fatherhood' too...all the pictures (before and after) are nice but very well explored for so many 'fathers' and 'no fathers' as well. I find funny to think of: father + outsider + taking pictures + becoming insider + giving birth to pictures of wife due to give birth......something funny that I still cannot explain but feel not so nice! Looking at the pictures I don't see mother and child. I see the absence of the father and this annoy me. Don't ask me why!
comment by Mysterymythic at 05:44 PM (GMT) on 11 January, 2004
This photo is so special to me because it captures a very calm, rare, intimate moment following a period of uncertainty and chaos. In the room were just myself and my husband with our very new baby daughter. Using the telephone I was able to reach out and 'touch' my other daughters and my mother who were waiting anxiously at home.
In response to Maxine: If 'the father' had been in the photo, an outsider would have been in the room; the intimacy would be gone, making it just 'another birth photo'.
comment byrenee at 06:13 PM (GMT) on 11 January, 2004
definitely noteworthy. this photograph is incredible. well done!
comment by djn1 at 04:51 PM (GMT) on 12 January, 2004
Maxine: I take your point, but as my wife (Mysterymythic) pointed out, to have included myself in the picture would have necessitated either asking someone else to take the picture or using a tripod and self-timer. The former would have intruded on the intimacy of the moment, and the latter would (in all probability) have resulted in an image lacking any of the spontaneity of this one.
renee: thanks.
comment by Maxine at 01:01 AM (GMT) on 14 January, 2004
I agree!
Just wonder if after that picture, the mother took a photo of father and baby (as you did)...or maybe she was too tired...I don't know. Just wonder.....
comment by djn1 at 09:53 AM (GMT) on 14 January, 2004
Maxine: yes, there are a couple of snapshots of me with our daughter, taken a little while after the above image, but they aren't all that good and I wouldn't post them here. They do exist though ;-)
comment byZishaan at 04:10 PM (GMT) on 9 November, 2004
Some of my friends in India, very sadly, dont find this potrayal of a mother, acceptable. Nice shot though.
comment by Saqib at 06:28 PM (GMT) on 2 November, 2005
Look, I appreciate all the feeling and emotion and everything else captured in this shot. But don't you think it should be kept private and not published in a public domain like this. How does your wife feel about this???
comment by suzysue at 10:57 PM (GMT) on 2 December, 2006
I was looking through the archive and I saw this. I have seen it before but today it made me cry, maybe I'm missing that baby feeling.
Simply beautiful.
This week’s Photo Friday challenge – Woman – left me in something of a quandry, mostly because I really wanted to reuse the various images I’ve posted recently of my wife when she was pregnant in 2001. The images I’ve already used were taken six days before our daughter was born, and would have been excellent for this week’s challenge, not least because they capture so many aspects of womanhood – sensuality, motherhood, pregnancy, power … and so on. But I promised myself that I wouldn’t reuse any images for these challenges so, for a while, I wasn’t too sure what to use.
I did think about trying to take some pictures this week, but my wife and our two youngest have been ill over the last few days so nobody was really in the mood for taking any new pictures – so it was back to the archives. And then I found this one, taken six days after the previous images, and just over one hour after our daughter was born.
I decided it would be suitable for this week’s challenge for many of the reasons mentioned above, but there’s also a slight tongue-in-cheek element with the phone. My wife would probably argue that this is just another example of multi-tasking – giving birth, breastfeeding, talking on the phone – but it struck me that the image does portray something (stereo)typical of womanhood. But, more importantly, it captures some of the happiness of those first few hours, something that’s always worth recording :-)
Wow! So many things that encompass being a woman in the same image.
Beautiful!
squishybear: thanks, I do think this image captures some of the things I was trying to convey.
i remember being at the point. baby just born, now to call the family. perhaps the proudest moment in my life. this picture conjures up so many memories. wonderful job! and one more thing. b&w definitely did it justice. I think color would have brought a little bit of an overwhelming feeling..
Noteworty if you ask me..
angela: thanks. One of the difficulties with this theme, as I saw it, was that I didn't want to present a man's perspective of what being a woman might mean - that seemed too easy - so it's reassuring that my image brought back (pleasant) memories for you.
Gregz: thanks.
I would love to see the man, to see 'fatherhood' too...all the pictures (before and after) are nice but very well explored for so many 'fathers' and 'no fathers' as well. I find funny to think of: father + outsider + taking pictures + becoming insider + giving birth to pictures of wife due to give birth......something funny that I still cannot explain but feel not so nice! Looking at the pictures I don't see mother and child. I see the absence of the father and this annoy me. Don't ask me why!
This photo is so special to me because it captures a very calm, rare, intimate moment following a period of uncertainty and chaos. In the room were just myself and my husband with our very new baby daughter. Using the telephone I was able to reach out and 'touch' my other daughters and my mother who were waiting anxiously at home.
In response to Maxine: If 'the father' had been in the photo, an outsider would have been in the room; the intimacy would be gone, making it just 'another birth photo'.
definitely noteworthy. this photograph is incredible. well done!
Maxine: I take your point, but as my wife (Mysterymythic) pointed out, to have included myself in the picture would have necessitated either asking someone else to take the picture or using a tripod and self-timer. The former would have intruded on the intimacy of the moment, and the latter would (in all probability) have resulted in an image lacking any of the spontaneity of this one.
renee: thanks.
I agree!
Just wonder if after that picture, the mother took a photo of father and baby (as you did)...or maybe she was too tired...I don't know. Just wonder.....
Maxine: yes, there are a couple of snapshots of me with our daughter, taken a little while after the above image, but they aren't all that good and I wouldn't post them here. They do exist though ;-)
Some of my friends in India, very sadly, dont find this potrayal of a mother, acceptable. Nice shot though.
Look, I appreciate all the feeling and emotion and everything else captured in this shot. But don't you think it should be kept private and not published in a public domain like this. How does your wife feel about this???
I was looking through the archive and I saw this. I have seen it before but today it made me cry, maybe I'm missing that baby feeling.
Simply beautiful.