Giving and Receiving Comfort
We all notice body language whether it is obvious to us or not.
Sometimes it whispers and sometimes it shouts.
The position of our bodies including our posture gives away our feelings, worries, fears, excitements, sadness and joys without any necessity of opening our mouths or making the slightest sound. There are no actual words but it is still called a “language” because it communicates.
Take More Than One Photo
A photo rich with body language can tell a complicated story in a heartbeat. Our eyes pick up the nuances easily as often do our hearts. Nuances are “suggestions” towards understanding something which can be seen or felt and understood with or without words.
Family History is Made of Tiny Tales
Here are three photos in sequence which communicate through body language:
First, Grandfather and Granddaughter are playing in the basement. It is full of things to do and no one appears to be in a hurry. The Granddaughter still wears the remnant of her earlier dress-up activity which is a furry, black, cape, which, by-the-way, went home with her later in the day.
Do you think that Grandpa is having a hard time keeping his fingers off of the Lincoln Logs? Is he having trouble NOT giving advice on how to put the windows into the house? Does she care? Will he help her uninvited? Does their body language communicate anything else in this photograph?
Above is the second photo:
Since the Lincoln Log house is the same as in the first photo, should we assume that Grandpa was invited to help build the house? Their body language would suggest that they are collaborating or discussing what to do next. Do these people look comfortable or uncomfortable? Can you see that Grandpa is resisting being the one to put the Lincoln Logs together?
Are there other nuances in the photograph and/or body language? When the Granddaughter sees this photo in years to come, will she remember this experience with her Grandpa better than if she had known I was watching and had asked her to look at me and smile?
Without these photographs to tell the tiny tale would anyone remember the moment at all?
Would their body language have been the same if I had been close to them, which I was not?
Feeling Something
I am pretty sure I have taken a good photograph if I feel something when I see it.
It is time to put the water slide away.
I couldn’t see her face from this angle but I know her well enough to be certain that her little lower lip is sticking out in a pout.
Body Language. We all speak it.
