A Photo Post: Abuela

You know they say that a photo says a thousand words. I won’t attempt to write a thousand today, but I will give you the story behind this photo and why I simply love it.

A dear friend of mine suggested that I share more of my photographs and combine them with the "story behind the image". I found this a rather exciting challenge and picked the first photo that came to mind. I have to admit, the story behind this particular photo isn’t the most exciting, but the feeling it creates is lasting. The photo, to me, is just as breathtaking as that moment was.

We heard about a wild park in Shanghai that, instead of cramping the animals in cages, had compounds for them. Having heard that they have Siberian tigers and lemurs, I was already outside hailing a cab.

The park was big and the surrounding nature was beautifully incorporated into the setting. I was standing by the Lama section surrounded by loud brats shooting each other and the lamas with their bubble guns (just like water guns, but, you guessed it, they shoot bubbles). I was overwhelmed with the smell, the yelling and the bubbles burning my eyes, when all of the sudden, this old Chinese lady appears from the side and walks straight towards the fence. It was like a scene from a film: a peaceful person walking through a mad crowd, untouched and undisturbed. Once she reached the fence, she placed her hand on the pole to rest when a young lama quietly approached her. The grace of both their movements almost cast a silence around and my eyes were locked on them. She just stared at the scene. She didn’t try to pet its head, back away, or feed it candy. She simply stood there and appreciated the wild animal. It was almost like the lama sensed her kind heart and good intentions and it also just stood there and enjoyed the moment.

I had to shake myself out of the trance to quickly to take this shot. And I’m glad I did. This photo is one of my favorites because you can feel the silence, the elegance, the respect and the gentility of both the old lady and her new young friend. It was nature at its kindest. 

Of course, this all happened in China, and this moment was soon over with screeching toddlers running to the baby lama with guns cocked and aimed. But the old lady never wavered. She simply took a step back, mentally greeted her friend farewell and disappeared.

I will attempt this tranquil approach with my camel when I go desert trekking in the Taklamakan this weekend. We’ll be gone for a few weeks, but watch this space for stories on doing the Macarena by the Pakistan border, camping under the stars, exploring the Silk Road and dealing with sand in uncomfortable places.