Seeing Myself Writing
{Though our stories are often written, our platform welcomes stories told in other ways. We invite submissions of Spoken Word poetry or performance art, dance or music, and visual art as well. We only ask that if it's not a literary submission, that you offer some written contextualization of the piece. }
Photography taken by Rhea Shah
This piece allowed me the opportunity to combine my love for photography with my appreciation for a particular piece of literature.
I have always loved photography. My love for photography started with just taking photos of my mom, dad, and younger brother with our phones, and, as I grew older, this expanded to also include taking pictures of my friends. When my dad gifted my mom a professional-level camera for one of her birthdays, however, I started taking pictures with that camera and got to play around with photography even more. Though I never pursued photography as a serious passion, over time, I have realized that I continue this hobby because I love capturing my favorite people and places in what I perceive to be their most beautiful form. This particular selection of photos includes landscape shots of some of my favorite places ranging from Costa Rica to Canada to my own backyard.
There are, however, two components to this piece: photography and poetry.
The poem featured on this collection of photographs is Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” I chose to include this poem as it is the first poem that I remember reading and truly appreciating. I discovered it in the pages of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, and I remember feeling struck by the sentiment that nothing lasts forever and pondering my own fleeting youth in the moments that followed.




