Project 52 – Week 6 – Black & White Landscape

It was Sunday, February 3, 2019.  A couple of hours before the Super Bowl kickoff when tragedy struck my sleepy suburban community of Yorba Linda, California.  Many of my neighbors watched in horror as a small cessna plane broke apart mid-flight and came crashing to the ground.  The parts and debris scattered across blocks in a residential neighborhood and one home suffered the ultimate devastation when the house was engulfed in flames and four people were unable to escape.  This family who lost their lives had loved ones in route to this home to watch the Super Bowl together.  Can you even imagine?

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

John 15:12

Sometimes it is difficult to see that anything good can come from a horrible event such as this but I am seeing beauty in the way my community is wrapping it’s arms around this family that has lost so much.  I believe that changing the world begins by creating change within our own homes and communities.  If we want to see more love and kindness we need to give more love and kindness right where we are at.  I don’t really understand why it takes a tragedy like this to illuminate that so many of us really do love our neighbors, but there is beauty in these acts of coming together as a community.

I am not comfortable shooting landscapes but I knew immediately when I read th prompt for this week that I wanted to try and capture a shot of my Yorba Linda community.  I wanted to depict how the sun is still rising and how we are ultimately surrounded by things bigger than ourselves.