poetry
'HIDDEN'
By Maegan Farrow
Concealed in a rose bush,
I admire the flowers
Content in this solitude,
I sit here for hours
Then you approach and thrust your hand in
The thorns grow fangs and drink at your skin
And I am left wondering,
whenever I see a rose Is it painted red by your blood that once flowed?
Disguised in a mask,
I'm freed from myself
Drunk on the smile of somebody else
But you stride in and tear my mask away
Revealing skin of paper and my eyes of clay
And I am left gasping for someplace to hide
While you stand and demand to know why I lied
Shrouded in a cloud made of my own thoughts
Their buzzing and bother, I have never fought
Suddenly you appear and laugh in my face
Tell me that all of my fears are misplaced
But I am left back at the start line again
Searching for a way to make the noise end
Silent and nameless, I watch from afar
Between us the distance of the earth to the stars
Across the street I watch you walk
Someone beside you, I watch you talk
Still I am left thinking if I could ever be
As bright and as beautiful as you are to me

Illustration by Isabel Mitchelson
My own work is self-labelled as documentary photography, out of a lack of a better title. By carrying a camera daily, I aim to embody the spirit of the Brownie in making the means to photography ready to me at every moment, without obstruction – by doing so, I can take a photograph of anything that captures my eye and interests me enough to preserve. Any of us can do this these days, with a camera readily available in our pockets around the clock – and many of us do so without even thinking about it. Next time you take your phone out to take a photograph, whether it is of your friends or of something that caught your eye, think about how you are participating in the act of documenting your life through photography. Make prints of your favourites, display them on your walls, share them with your friends and family. Follow the tradition of those who came before you and took their own snapshots documenting their lives. Everyone is a documentary photographer today, and this is a good thing.