Duende & a special Anniversary
Yes, Mother's Day is this Sunday… and I am a family photographer who loves to show mamas how goddess-like and beautiful they are… and I should probably be talking about motherhood and photos… but I don't want to.
So let's get to what I do want to talk about.
I have lived in Albuquerque for about eight years now. I have worked hard to discover all the unique and special things this city has to share. So I was crazy surprised to find out that ABQ is the Flamenco capital of the United States. You heard me right, not for New Mexico but for the US!
My father lived in Spain when he was a young man and fell in love with the culture. He speaks fluent Spanish still and makes us Paella every New Year's Eve. While living there, my dad went to see a Flamenco. Back then you had to see it on Sunday night at midnight. Powerful women accompanied by men on the guitar and vocals, supported by other dancers clapping and stomping to create the most intricate rhythms. He was blown away, beyond impressed, fell madly in love, and experienced Duende.
What the heck is Duende, Alison? (here, let me put my teacher hat on)
Duende: The term is traditionally used in flamenco music or other art forms to refer to the mystical or powerful force given off by a performer to draw in the audience.
It is more broadly used when you have a spiritual and emotional experience during an artful or life experience.
We went to the Flamenco and it was incredible. INCREDIBLE!!! I went hoping to feel that Duende. It had been a long time for me.
The last time I really, strongly felt Duende was 18 years ago.
After my kidney transplant.
I had been sick for 10 years. (I'm still sick but that story is for another time.) There wasn't anything else that could help heal my body. It was a long wait to get a kidney and a very long process to actually get one. It was very stressful and hard and I really felt the fragility of my existence.
Getting a kidney from my younger brother (thanks, Brad) was not only life-saving but gave me the chance to live. To really live. I went back to life just in awe of my family, of the little beauties within the everyday. The streams of light filtered through my dirty windows. My son's giggles while he wrestled with my husband. The tulips popping up in my garden and sipping tea after a day of tending to kids. I felt so damn grateful. It was duende.
Today is the 18th anniversary of my kidney transplant, a little duende in and of itself to have gotten this far, given that many extra years to live life. Really live life.
Have you felt duende? Do you have moments that were so powerful that they changed your life? Feeling the magic and power? The tender and modest?
Life is so precious and wants to give to us so much. It just takes practice noticing them.
At each photo session with my clients, I work to find those duende moments and gift them as photographs. If you want to feel duende through family photos, I am now booking through the end of August in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and limited dates in North County San Diego.
Thanks for being here and being you,
Alison
