FORGIVE ME – these photos were taken by my son, not me. As I thought about this week’s Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge and sifted through my own images of fleeting moments, I thought that these photos, taken while my son was deployed in Helmand Province in 2011, seem to capture fleeting moments that catch the heart.
It’s easy to think that as their villages and farms continue to be invaded by one group of strangers or another, these kids are lucky to have any pleasurable, carefree moments. But they do, fleeting though they may be.
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ON THE OTHER HAND, I think the culture and way of life in this part of the world will endure.
One might as easily call these images “timeless” as one would call them “fleeting.”
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Fleeting glimpses of fleeting moments can also be perused here, at the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge.
bluebrightly 
Some fantastic shooting there… of the good kind!
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🙂
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Clearly you have more than one photographer in the family! There are some well-captured and thought provoking images in this collection. I particularly like the last one – a natural poser!
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He does have a very good eye, and is good with people. The girl in red is almost too beguiling!
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Well it’s often the fleeting moment that creates the timeless memory isn’t it. I particularly like the girl in yellow.
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The little girl reaching out towards the camera? Such joy. You’re right about the memories.
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A wonderful collection of another culture… The smiles on these little faces remind me to be thankful for the peaceful country I live in. and for the blessings of this life. These children smile even when peace is fleeting in thier land.
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Thank you for taking a minute to comment, and a wise comment it is.
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these images are really really moving. children have no prejudice, no hatred for neighboring countries or of countries on the other side of the world. the fruit doesn ‘t fall far from the tree, as your son’s gift is amazing. z
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Thank you Lisa. I will have to pass your comments along.
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Wow! Powerful moments, tiny gestures. Taking note of them is the most important of all. Thanks for this.
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Thank you – you’re right – and you know I’m glad he took note.
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These are great pictures that your son took. And you’re right, they do have a timeless quality to them. I’m sure his experience there will color his world always.
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I’m sure you’re right, Cathy. The good with the bad.
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Perhaps also a fleeting off duty chance for your son to see another side of Afghanistan . These are lovely images of ordinary youngsters going about their everyday lives making the best of a situation as children invariably do. Love the little group with baby in a purple bonnet !
Memories of taking these images that your son so successfully caught will last for him, and I have no doubt either whatever happens that their culture will endure too.
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He’s always loved kids and he has a feeling for them. I like that one, too – they’re so full of joy, and he caught a great angle. It’s true, they make the best of things, though they are sometimes harmed more than we could imagine.
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Wow! An excellent response to the theme-both words and photos are remarkable.
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hanks Naomi, I’m glad you thought so and I appreciate your comments.
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Very poignant.
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Thank you.
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Beautiful images and words.
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Thanks Anne!
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Great!!
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Glad you liked it!
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Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting Moment | Mike Hardisty Photography
Your son also has a great eye. Thank you for sharing these thought provoking images. Heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time for me. Yes, ‘fleeting’ and ‘timeless.
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I appreciate your thoughts! I guess we both have the understanding that one quality (heartwarming – fleeting) does not rule out another, seemingly different quality (heartbreaking – timeless).
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Dear Lynn,
These wonderful photos taken by your son stirred within me a longing ache for Afghanistan. We lived there for two years where my son spent his earliest childhood. It was a place of unexpected beauty and dignity and home to some of the finest people that walk this earth. For me, the time I spent in this country was fleeting but in a most definitive way it changed my life forever. Thank your son specially from me for taking the time to see. To see beyond the conflict, poverty and the stark differences. To see the enduring sacredness of these lives. Much love, Sharon
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These photos are beautiful and touching. Thank you to your son for taking them, and to you for sharing them with all of us.
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Thank you!
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Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting | The Panama Adventure
These are such heartbreakingly beautiful shots. There is so much humanity, and trust, in both these photographs and the hand which took them.
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Patti thank you for saying that – I will pass your compliment along!
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I don’t know your son, but I like him !
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Nice to hear!
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Wow! Your son got your talent and I like the ending, the idea of timelessness because that thought compelled me to go through the photos again thinking about timelessness and how there isn’t any indicator, any marker of time in them. Awesomeness Lynn, awesomeness!
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So good to hear. Thank you. Thank you.
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Your son is obviously a great photographer too.
Wonderful photos by your son. It’s such a lovely change to see these children’s faces in the midst of the (often) horrific shots of war & conflict we see in the media.
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Thank you very, very much.
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oh, I love these photos! make me very happy, so beautiful these pure faces and smiles. He’s talented, like you!
thank you so much!
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These are lovely. I like your own photos as well! I might use a few in The Woven Tale Press if interested. Email me at editor@thewoventalepress.com if interesting, reference this URL. Sandra
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Another world, another culture, another mentality!
Fantastic pictorial representation of the differences …
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I’m glad you liked it – thanks you!
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