Written By - Gabriele De Capitani
Let’s Talk Lillypads
Ngo Dong River - Tam Coc, Vietnam
As we jump across the pond, we might encounter a Lotus flower, beautiful moments in conversation that decorate your pond with bright colors. The sight of them makes us happy, and we allow ourselves to linger for a while around them, but what makes these moments even more special is that they don’t last forever. Just like Lotus flowers survive no more than five days, beautiful moments in conversations are to be enjoyed and remembered, but not to be lingered on for too long; else we witness the colors turning sour and the moment fleeting. Instead, we keep jumping, appreciating what we found and in hopes we will find it again, or better, find something new!
These two photos were taken on the same river, only a few meters apart. One was taken under sunny conditions and the other in the shade, which I felt was appropriate to the different state of the subject. While the first is bright and new flowers, the second shows the remains of the plant when it dies and after its time to shine has passed. Both subjects are centered and focused on, with some foreground elements. The flower picture is much closer to the water, which I think makes the observer want to look closer, and the scene feels a bit more intimate. The Leaf picture, on the other hand, is more elevated from the water, which, combined with the generically less appealing subject, gives more separation from the viewer, in my mind, alluding to the fact that the moment of interest might be over and it might be an appropriate time to look away. (If you’d like, please let me know how you felt and if you share these views :) ).
Ngo Dong River - Tam Coc, Vietnam
Each lily pad grows from the center, branching until it creates a nice and sturdy platform, able to support so much weight, yet it’s rarely perfect. Some have bite marks, other holes in them, and other more are partially sinking, just like a conversation or a thought that has lingered for too long. It’s important to keep jumping, exploring what else is out there so we don’t remain stuck in our own little spot. It’s thanks to others that we learn, we grow, and our minds are able to jump around nice and healthy pads, creating new ones as we go.
Taking this photo and reflecting on the difference between the lilypad’s conditions was quite fun for me. It took me a good part of twenty minutes to find, in a great pond, the most intact of the lily pads, which happened to be surrounded by others in not-so-good condition, but the ripple in the water and the difference between them made me imagine that something had recently jumped over them, leaving some more weathered than others.
My Son Sanctuary - Hoi An, Vietnam
It’s nice to imagine walking on a wooden platform above a large pond of our past conversations. It twists and turns, attracted by pretty flowers or pushed away from not-so-beautiful moments. We each have our own path; some might lean towards moments that others didn’t think twice about, and others might get stuck on a moment for a while before finding the strength to move forward. It’s important to look back at your conversations to learn and to grow, as they shape which direction we decide to keep building our path, appreciating the past and allowing us to search for new lily pads to jump to.
Thank you for following this guided story through my pictures, a bit different from the previous ones, but I hope that seeing things through my mind as well as my eyes resonates with you too!
And while I invented the lilypad phrase, and some of them might not be lilypads but rather lotus flowers, it just makes sense in my mind, and I hope it can spark something in you!
Cánh đồng Hoa súng - Nihn Binh, Vietnam
At the ending of a long day, two young women sit on a wooden walkway, just a few centimeters above the water of a large pond. They talk for hours about something we will never know and share a moment they might remember forever.
Sometimes, it can be hard to talk, start a conversation, or express yourself. You find yourself alone on a lilypad; it’s a comfortable place to be, no one to bother or judge you, just you, in your thoughts and in your mind. While this can be a peaceful place to be, it can also be a lonely one; you see, the lilypad grows small, it surrounds you and prevents you from reaching anything else. With the right person, however, you might get a gentle push, a feeling that builds up the more you wait. You’re worried that saying anything might not come out the way you wanted, or to be uninteresting, but the pressure builds up, and eventually you just jump. From your perspective, so close to the water, it might not seem like there is anything else out there, and yet you jump, and before you even know it, you land on another lily pad; only this time, you are not alone. It turns out, most of the time, all others are waiting for is for you to say something, literally anything, that allows them to be less intimidated and make their own first jump. Sooner than you think, you are hopping from lilypad to lilypad, topic to topic on an ever-growing pond of conversation. Everything might seem disconnected and chaotic, but somehow, jump after jump, you’ve covered so much of the pond, and it all traces back to that first little jump.
I generally don’t take photographs of others when they don’t know I’m there, but I make an exception when you can’t recognise them. These two women were sharing a lovely moment that I made sure not to take away from, instead creating a picture I felt strongly about that might inspire reflection and a similarly positive moment for whoever might see it. Two people lost in their little world, enjoying each other’s company and conversation, made me think of placing them in the center of the frame, with the rest of the scenery developing around them.
Talking lily pads (verb) — to move between several different but interconnected topics within the same conversation, jumping from one “lily pad” to another while remaining within the same conversational “pond.”
Spinning Boats -Thu Bon River, Hoi An, Vietnam
Cánh đồng Hoa súng - Nihn Binh, Vietnam