Quatrain #3: Unsown Seeds

One year ago today... perhaps not exactly the date... but just the same, I clearly remember it being a late-summer, late-Sunday afternoon. I learned via eMail that one of my students had suddenly died in a car accident along with another young man. It was a moment where all one could do is exclaim in response, "no!" He was 20-something, brimming with optimism, and loaded with talent. All I need to say for now is that I really miss seeing and working with him. He was on track to graduate within the year, so his absence was very palpable.

By this time in my life, of course I knew what it was like to learn of someone passing away. Whether it's a friend, relative, or acquaintance, news like this is never easy to hear about and process. But this was the first time a tragedy of this magnitude made such a deep impression on my photographic life.

A little more than two weeks later, I learned that another student passed away because of complications from a condition he'd been battling for several years. He too was brimming with optimism, and loaded with talent, at the age of 69. I really miss him, too, and this second event made for a rather extensive time to reflect.

Two very different lives that I found who had some common ground, a passion, and a vision. I know for certain that there are some unsown seeds they had produced... their photographs, I mean... those that were made but not quite ready for release.