Whatever Is Lovely by Rachel S.

Originally published on November 9, 2012 REWIND

Rachel’s Introduction

When you ask someone to describe what inspires her, it seems perfectly natural to me that she would show you a photo album.  What moves us to capture these moments in our lives?  We feel in that moment, some urgency that begs of us “shoot this.”  And for so many reasons, we do.  For love, for beauty, for art, for likes, for distraction, for preservation… whatever the reason, photography happens from within and produces these snapshots in time.  Whether consciously or not, we are sharing a life story.

Jennifer has a special way of preserving her moments.  Never overbearing and often softly, she shares her daily life and loves with us.  On top of her jobs as caregiver, wife and mother, she’s a delightful human, maker of beautiful pictures and a wonderful writer.  I asked her to share some insight into her world, and to speak to us through her pictures.

Thank you, Jennifer!

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MY CITY IS LOVELY

I am a Seattle native, so I know that there’s something about these gray winter mornings in the Pacific Northwest that just flat-out encourages hibernation – convinced that the best place of all is in your robe, in your bed, with a magazine and a big mug of coffee. This was one of those mornings. From where I live, I’m fortunate to have a great view of the shipping lanes. On this particular foggy day, having traded the warm comfort of my house for my cold commute, I passed this ship – quietly anchored – in the center of Elliott Bay. It suddenly struck me that as cold and tired as I felt that morning, the sailors on this boat were almost certainly more so. In addition, I wondered if they might also be lonely – separated from the ones they love by their time at sea. Though in some ways they were so close, the water rendered them unreachable. I felt that this edit, in homogenizing the background, really played to that sense of isolation. Freighters are a recurrent theme in my feed; I love these massive, often brightly colored additions to our landscape. If there’s a way to get a freighter in a shot, I’m there. Their combination of relative silence and power is interesting to me – and very Northwest.

One day, I took my youngest son to a doctor’s appointment in Sand Point and we headed to Magnuson Park afterwards to hit the playground. On our way out, this hangar caught my eye. From within the cavernous space, I could hear voices, but saw no one. I have always found this image magical in that it is entirely mundane, but still yet carries this sense of life, as if all of the characters suddenly disappeared from the scene. I think IGers Seattle called this one “Ghost Volley”, which I liked. A rolling tennis ball, a folding chair askew…there’s nothing unusual about these things – but for some reason, this was the first of my posts I recall people really connecting with. Oh, and it was also the first time that I pulled the car over and parked (with a kid in the back, no less!) to take a picture. Yes, I felt guilty…and yes, the guilt has since passed. 🙂

One of my favorite days is Saturday, because – well, because it’s Saturday – but also because it’s Farmers’ Market day. My husband and I love to entertain – to cook and eat tasty things – and in my mind, there are few things more beautiful than fresh flowers or produce. That one can grow these things from the earth always amazes me. You don’t have to do a lot to these images – the colors and shapes speak for themselves. I recently joked that I’m going to lose followers over my frequent tomato shots – but if so, that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

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MY FAMILY IS LOVE

Music is a big deal in our household. I sing, the boys sing, my husband plays guitar and composes electronic music, so we definitely encourage experimentation with new instruments. Needless to say, not all experiments are immediately successful! 🙂 On this particular day, my oldest son was attempting to play an electric guitar borrowed from a friend. Not surprisingly, he chose the kitchen – center of the action and arguably the most echoey room in the house, without rugs or anything else to dampen the noise. I felt myself getting tense, and then in a second, realized what it was that I was actually seeing and stopped in the noise to capture the moment. What this image showed me: My son, who has Asperger’s, was happy and content – the tones here captured his moment of inner calm. His too-short jeans were immortalized, reminding me how fast he’s growing. I didn’t see the motto on the wall behind him – “WE DO REALLY LOUD” – until I was editing the shot later. I am so blessed to have a home in which music is heard. This image will always be one of my favorites. If I had a style (which those of you who may have seen my feed know I clearly don’t – though I see advantages to both approaches), this image would be a good example. Soft and clean. My edits are pretty simple most of the time – heavy on Snapseed, VSCOcam and PicFx.

The exuberance of childhood is incredibly precious. As far as I’m concerned, you have the rest of your life to be an adult. And to be a child in a city like Seattle? We’ll, that’s just pretty much awesome. We took this shot (or should I say “shots” – there were multiple takes!) after dinner one night in the alley across from the Blue C Sushi in Fremont. Turns out it’s remarkably hard to catch two little people in mid-air without blur – but hey, since when has life ever been tidy?! The mural behind them highlighted for me the color and energy that we see inside of them as their parents and memories of the bemused glances from strangers watching our familial antics still makes me smile. Instagram makes one do crazy things – no doubt. Wouldn’t it be fun to ask the IG community: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done to get the shot? I bet the answers would be both hilarious and mildly disturbing.

This is the first of my images that I might consider an “art photo” – shot in our backyard after a looooong day of frolicking, fort building and tree climbing. My youngest son has a little more patience with my photography than his older brother and I was happy to capture this serious look on his face, as he’s a pretty jolly guy. That expression, coupled with the tendrils of ivy and the intensity of his eyes set the stage for an image through which I truly felt I had transformed reality. I really hope that doesn’t sound weird. What I mean is that in looking at this image, I have to reconcile my reality of my son – his warmth and boyishness – with the final product, in which he appears something like an elf or child denizen of the woods. As I think about it now, perhaps that day he was both. That he managed to appear so clean is perhaps the most remarkable bit of the whole thing. 🙂

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MY WORK IS A LABOR OF LOVE

I’ve worked as a physician at Harborview Medical Center for the past 11 years. It’s the Level One Trauma Center for our five-state region, so the things we see are often big and bad. In that regard, it’s a place people hope they never have to visit. But it’s also a place with an extraordinary sense of social mission – to everyone, but also to immigrants, drug abusers, the incarcerated, the underinsured, the homeless. Incidentally, one of my earliest Instagram memories was a series of images Brad Puet (@bradpuet) posted called “Homeless in Seattle” – a series of beautiful portraits and compelling stories of both disenfranchisement and empowerment from people whose voices aren’t typically heard by most of society. I was mesmerized. I knew then that Instagram was a LOT more than photo sharing and that there were others there who shared my heart around some of these issues.

Harborview is also a place full of remarkable stories. My friend Audrey Young referred to it in her book as “The House of Hope and Fear.” In Seattle there’s this prevailing sense that Harborview is an intimidating place, so one of my original Instagram goals was to highlight some of the beauty I see there every day. But shooting in a hospital is fraught with all sorts of practical and ethical challenges, so although I have access to many powerful images and moments, there are only a few that I feel I can capture and share – images like this hospital bed. Our hospital is always full, so an empty hospital room is something you don’t see very often. This image speaks to me in its possibility, contrast and stillness – the calm before the storm.

One of the reasons I so crave the beauty I see on Instagram is the contrast it provides to the many un-beautiful, often tragic things I see and do on an everyday basis. My faith is the only thing that carries and sustains me every day. Working as a doctor has made me appreciative of each healthy moment for myself and my family and Instagram has helped me better recognize those moments – it’s shifted this awareness for our whole family. And if the moments I share resonate with other users, all the better. It ‘definitely goes both ways.

At its core, medicine is all about people. Multiple times I day, I cross a skybridge connecting a number of intensive care units. I’ve nicknamed it the “Hallway of Tears” – a place where I routinely hear snatches of tearful stories about prognosis, family dynamics and medical uncertainty, always feeling a bit voyeuristic as I pass quickly by. This image was surreptitiously captured outside of yet another ICU. I believe the edit highlights the drama of critical illness which impacts family and friends as much as it does the patient himself, who in a sense often benefits from lack of minute-to-minute awareness. Outside of the hospital, my passion for stories translates to a strong interest in street photography, though I am not sure I yet possess the confidence and patience to be successful in that genre. Someday, perhaps… it’s a goal. When I see street shot well, it makes my soul sing.

I think this is a photo I took for a #JJ (Josh Johnson) Challenge in a slow moment on a day when I had to work a late shift. Balancing my role as a doctor and the sacrifices it requires with other important parts of my life is always challenging. Most days I think I’m doing a reasonable job, but it’s an active process, requiring constant introspection – as suggested by this light – turning over the rocks, peeking into the crevices of motive, carefully monitoring my family’s emotional barometer. I often work long days and weekends, which doesn’t always leave me enough time at any given moment to feel whole. I believe life is a series of seasons. Medicine is a remarkable calling, yet I truly believe that there will also be other exciting and very different chapters in my story.

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Jennifer joined Instagram in December 2011 but didn’t really “get it” until turning “OFF” the privacy switch in March 2012.  She is married and has two sons, a labradoodle and a guinea pig auspiciously named Professor Harold Hill. In an alternate universe, she is an accomplished cheesemaker. All proceeds from her Instacanvas Gallery will be donated to the Harborview Medical Center Charity Care Fund.

IG username: @whateverislovely
Hometown: Seattle, WA. (yep – a native!)
Current location: Seattle, WA
Camera(s): iPhone 4S and Canon T3i

About Author

Rachel White

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