Do you ever wonder how many photographs have been taken that included you without your knowledge? Maybe one ended up on an Instagram feed, or perhaps in an advertisement or newspaper or a friend’s official wedding photo collection? I don’t mean in a creepy or dodgy way. Just photographs we happened to be in or were taken for some artistic merit. I’ve been thinking about this having read a few pieces from The Guardian’s fascinating ‘That’s me in the picture’ section. It’s a question I like to ponder because we will never fully know. But more than that I like to think it speaks of a bigger, more significant, reality. How many times have we turned up in another person’s life in a way unbeknown to us? To us we’ve simply been going about our 9-5, when in fact somewhere along the way we’ve said or done or given something that’s prompted them to get their camera out. A moment to frame and put on the mantelpiece of their life. In a world where information and knowledge about almost everything and anything lays at the click of a button, it’s nice to have a few unknowns, such as these, that pave the way to imagination and mystery and romance…
“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” – Hebrews 13:1-2