The Camera Nerd - A Poem

If you know me, you know I’m a poet at heart. I often feel this helps give my photographs meaning-as I’m always looking to take a photograph that in many ways is a poem about those in front of my camera. 
 

Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and I thought I’d sit down and write a poem to honor the photographer poets out there who know their passion goes beyond social media likes, being entrepreneurs, and making photography their career. They are artists, and will remain so forever. 
 

Enjoy, and happy New Year, everyone!

Here’s to the camera nerd.

The histogram checker,

and kelvin enthusiast.

The quirky, 

awkward,

artist.

The poet heart-

who sees with their soul

and frames with their mind.

The user of antiquated gear.

The eyes of whom

sees unfolding moments 

frozen in time,

forever.

Seeing the world in black and white,

and simultaneous bursts of color.

The seeker of light

and fantastic dreams;

mesmerized

by dust,

dancing in attic windows. 

The discoverer of beauty 

among the mundane. 

The celebrator of wrinkled brows

and graying heads.

No influencers here;

these are the quiet and patient 

enthusiasts of life great and small. 

No preset can add meaning 

quite like the heart of one 

who pauses

to watch laughter rise and fall.

Who knows how to use both

shadows and light,

wonder and grief, 

the refined and the rough,

to tell a story worth sharing.

Here’s to the camera nerd-

smeared makeup 

and crazy hair-

who lost her shoes in the crowd

because the people

were dancing;

and the photographs 

yet to be made

called from the memories 

yet to be cherished. 

-C.L. 2022