Everything but the truth in photographs…
:Topsail Center scientists and volunteers were digging gently in the sand to rescue turtles buried by deep sand one handful at a time. Documenting all, I stepped away to refresh and noticed this released turtle scampering across the sand to splash in the oc
It was hot. The sun was setting as I left the group, camera in hand and struck out letting instinct lead the way. Too many hours searching albeit successfully for prehistoric shark teeth in the NC sands left me visually spent. I wanted to become involved with a story…any story. Lots of families playing in the surf kept my attention until far from waters’ edge, I spotted a crowd. Then I remembered the spot had been marked off with pink fluorescent ribbon. A female Loggerhead Sea Turtle had deposited approximately 10 dozen eggs here nearly two months ago.
Topsail Center scientists and volunteers were digging gently in the sand to rescue turtles buried by deep sand one handful at a time. Documenting all, I stepped away to refresh and noticed this released turtle scampering across the sand to splash in the ocean.
There is no truth in photography. Our 3-dimensional world is flattened into a 2-dimensional print or screen regardless of the “truth” of the photographer. It’s all an illusion, always was. It is not real nor is it meant to be. We select the angle, the focus, the light, the shadows, the colors, freezing movement or not. To tell a story we edit out neighboring objects, select a background, pounce on an arbitrary moment. Accurate? Sure. Reality? No. Truth? No.
This turtle was moving fast. I wiggled quickly out of the crowd, slid parallel to its movement, pivoted at my waist to lower my camera yet not block its path. Clicked the shutter. Suddenly a hand reached down gently lifting this baby into a waiting bucket. There with other hatchlings, they wait until darkness when they are safely released into the ocean to imprint darkness and not light on their memory.
On to the Sargasso Sea. Females will return to this very beach, 20 – 30 years later. The truth here was only in my heart.
