With the Spring beginning so soon, the thought of life and death is a very reasonable one. This is something that we all think about, it is a part of the human condition. This is a huge subject to talk about in a single blog, but what I want to discuss today is the idea of legacy.
As a photographer, the idea having my work seen, appreciated and remembered is definitely something I think about quite regularly. I used to stress about all of these things a lot, but not what I do is think about the fact that there is a part of me in every image I create. It reminds me of a John Keats poem titled; Ode to a Grecian Urn that addresses this same idea of the comfort we can feel when we create something. We are putting a part of ourselves into what we do, and so regardless of the life you lead that piece of you will be immortalised through that work.
We all have times where we have scary thoughts about life, I personally struggle a lot with them involving intrusive and negatively existential thought. So in order to combat this I think about the impact I have already and will make on the world. These do not have to be big, world altering things though, when you smile and someone in the street and they smile back at you, you have impacted their life in a positive way, and somewhere in their mind will live that memory of you, and you never know, that may be passed on through generations.
The traditional approach to this is family, having children and physically passing on a part of yourself to another generation of people. This is still amazing, but like everything in life is not something everyone can do or may be interested in. But, taking that as an example, apply it to yourself in whatever context suits you!
Need some support?
There are some great resources here from Young Minds if you need any extra support with any themes or topics discussed here.