« Be the America you need to be »

To our friend the U.S.:  Congratulations. You now have the chance to be the America you need to be.

There’s a little backstory here. I knew what I wanted to post today (the day Joe Biden secured the US Presidential election) and I was planning just a text post on Twitter/Facebook because I couldn’t think what photo to put with it. I guess I could have used a publicly-licensed photo of Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, but I certainly didn’t think I had a photo of my own that was suitable. 

Then I looked at my Facebook memories for today and this was the image I’d posted a year ago. It’s from a trip to NYC in 2018, Brooklyn to be precise. My sister and I had taken a number of shots of the Brooklyn Borough Hall the day before this. The second time by, we were hightailing it to the subway to get to Manhattan to get some good weather time in Central Park, before leaving the Big 🍎 to head home.

But as we walked through, I did glance over my shoulder (following my father’s sage photographic advice) and this is what I saw - the sun, just behind the cupola, creating a beautiful silhouette while also illuminating the Stars & Stripes, unfurled in a stiff breeze. Got in a shot or two, then the moment was gone.

I love this image to accompany my congrats to the US because it speaks to me of patriotism, to be sure, but more so of how light illuminates and makes everything more beautiful and vivid, and how it adds definition and clarity that allows us to see things we may have missed. I feel that today the US, and so many more of us, have stepped out of the darkness. It’s a moment in time, so let’s capture the radiance and take it with us into the future.