Sooo.., to put my money where my mouth is, I took my camera along last week when I went to go visit an old friend of the family at an old age home called Jacaranda Haven. I thought what better way to start than to capture a piece of history. Carlo has lived the most amazing life and a ton of knowledge will be lost if one day he leaves for a better place.
He can keep you glued to your seat with stories from his childhood in a small little Italian village, where his dad farmed a rare and very precious herb to his ordeals during world war2. He was seriously injured in a grenade explosion in North Africa. He was captured and placed on a boat to South Africa. He spent eight days at sea, chained below deck while the ship was constantly bombed. He eventually arrived in South Africa where he was placed in a "prisoner of war" camp at Zonderwater prison,doing hard labour, building roads...He met his wife at the camp when she dropped off some socks she had knitted for the prisoners. The story goes on and on - he should have written a book.
And now he is confined to a small room in the frailcare unit unable to wash or dress himself. I hope this photo does him justice and captured a hint of the once proud and independand man called Carlo.
While I was at it, I did some portraits of some of the other residents and can't wait to see their reaction when I drop them off next week.
Wow Jeff, that really is a fantastic black and white shot!
ReplyDeleteThanx Greg. That means a lot coming from you. I guess passion makes the difference. I have been wanting to take a shot like this forever. The fact that the hospital room was 2.5 x 2m meant that I had to put some serious planning into it beforehand, but it was worth it in my opinion. Glad you like :-)
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