This project isn't for any purpose other than my own, to keep these images somewhere safe. These aren't designed to be anything special in technique or content to anyone other than myself, and is an example of what I need to do when I need to process emotions and want to capture and keep something for myself. The photo of me above was from well over twenty years ago in the same spot that I was taking these photos from last year. I wanted to capture this yard where I grew up and capture the emotions I felt taking these photos. When I was taking these, my grandparents were at a hospital in a town many miles away, because you need to drive miles and miles before you can get quality care from where they live. My mom and I drove down to tend to their yard and keep the plants alive in their absence, since it was likely going to be many months before they'd be able to return. I think you can tell in these photos that they feel scared, and I can feel it a year later as I post them. I'm capturing both wide and close up, trying to cram as many things into the wide shots as possible and trying to capture every detail on the close up ones. 

These fig and apple trees are cuttings from trees that have been in my family for many generations. These particular ones here are from my great-grandparent's backyard that my grandparents have been cultivating for years. I remember my great-grandparent's house with their many fig trees, and to this day every time I bit into a fig I'm immediately back in their house, sitting in front of the tv with my cousins, turning the dial on their TV trying to find the American channels and eating figs. Every time I think of my great-grandmother I also think of her passing the egg to cure any mal de ojo that she thinks someone may have received. 

The yard feels empty and there's a little lump in my throat as I post these, afraid that I'm never going to see it full again. I can see my cousins and I playing basketball, swinging on the swing that my grandpa built for us, singing. Sometime soon I'm going to find all the photos and videos of this yard full of kids and family and remind myself of all the love and memories I've been lucky enough to receive here.