Phone Photography Contest 104 | Alegría
Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well. Today, I want to share my photos for the Hive Smartphone Photography Contest, which is currently in its 104th week. This is a somewhat different entry, as what really caught my eye—and inspired me to take photos—was this beautiful little dog named Alegría... If you’ve ever read my blog, you’ll know that I’m firmly on "Team Cats" and that I’m not really a dog person; however, there are always exceptions to the rule, and this little one is definitely one of them! 🐶
This coming October will mark ten years since one of our good friends had to leave the country—and I am referring to this little dog’s owner: the son of the lady you can see in the photographs alongside Alegría. Over the course of this decade, our friend has moved through more than one country in an effort to build a life for himself—a struggle that has been anything but easy, just as it is for so many migrants. Yet the sad part—which is also, in a way, the happy part—is that it will have been ten years since he last saw his mother, who now remains at home with only little Alegría for company.
The area where they live here in Caracas is very beautiful, yet maddening. It is one of those places where the phone signal seems to have forgotten to show up; on top of that—due to some residential changes—their internet service has also become unreliable, something they have already been waiting months to have fixed. For our friend, who currently resides in Spain, it is nearly impossible to even see his mother and her little dog—even just over the phone—since his mother happens to be quite shy; however, thanks to our musical work, we have been able to serve as a link between him and them, as we have met up in Madrid two years in a row whenever we were out on tour.
Every time we visit my friend’s mother, I feel a deep sense of nostalgia, and I find myself wondering what it would be like to be in her shoes—a mother living alone, so far removed from other relatives and from her son, with only the company of a little dog that—just between us—is getting on in years and, with every visit, seems to be suffering from more and more ailments. I know for a fact that he has done everything in his power to expedite the necessary processes so he can be reunited with his family, but it truly has been a complicated ordeal.
I took these photographs primarily because my friend asked me to do him a favor: to take pictures—preferably on the sly—of his mother (who hates cameras) and of little, aging Alegría; and this time, he even asked for shots of the residential complex grounds, which are still under maintenance. I didn't actually have to do anything surreptitiously, though; I managed to use my charm to get the lady to grant me at least a couple of photos 😅 But after so many sporadic visits, the only thing I wish for as we approach the ten-year mark of their separation is that they might finally be reunited. 🙏
