Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Ballerina + Sky, Santa Maria del Mar, La Habana, Cuba, Summer of 2013


She is a goddess, and at her altar I bow with my camera in praise. 

Just today I received a second message from her mother in Cuba. In the first message gratitude was expressed for the photographs, for our time together and for the friendship formed this past summer between us. In my response, I described her daughter as a star which guides me at night, a star two which I look constantly for inspiration.

Her response is shared below, first in Spanish followed by the translation. The book to which she refers affected me deeply in my youth as well, and shows how two people in two different worlds can have such similar paths. To have photographed her daughter was an honor without compare, to have been given such a privilege is what takes me away to these places. I have in these people seen the true face of love. It is the love which eludes so many, yet is right there to be grasped.

"Halim, sus palabras me han conmovido y me han recordado un libro que guardo con mucho amor desde pequeña, "El Principito" escrito por Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Es un libro de amor y de amistad. Un libro que también habla de las estrellas que ríen como cascabeles porque nos recuerdan a un amigo, y así es, las distancia es burlada, cuando sentimos que el cielo es nuestro techo, el techo de todos y una estrella nos refleja el alma de un amigo. Entonces es dulce en las noches mirar al cielo…"

"Halim, your words have moved me and I recalled a book that I save with much love since little, "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It is a book of love and friendship. A book that speaks of the stars that laugh like bells because they remind us of a friend, and as such, the distance is overcome, when we feel that the sky is our roof, the roof of each and a star shows us the soul of a friend. So sweet at night looking at the sky…"

When someone wonders, "why do you visit the island every year?" I point to this image, and to the words above.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a Sony RX100M2, edited for size and contrast only.

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