"Pictures tell a thousand stories-Wk42"

I love keeping memories in videos and photos; that's what keep me going. Sometimes it makes me smile when I remember the atmosphere filled with joy, laughter, food, games and more.

I used to scroll pass this photo, smile at it and move to another. But one day, I saw @fortwis09 contest about photography. I decided to go check the tips and think of which photo in my gallery I would be write about. I didn't even have this one in mind. But while going through photo, I paused on this one and thought of how to be creative with it. Check out the result that changed how I now see this photo.

Description of the photo

An outdoor photograph showing five beautiful women dressed traditional/formal attire. Their hands are over each other's shoulder, forming a connected line for the shot. Lighting is aid from natural daylight, making the photo so bright and clear. Their background is surrounded by nature's beauty, we could see trees above the wall and the dry ground where their feet is nicely rested on their simple but classic shoes.

Starting from the woman by the left:

• 1st woman: Wearing a blue wrapper with a matching creamy color blouse and a blue gele. She's holding a portable black handbag in her right hand. She smiles gently for the shot.

• 2nd woman: Wearing an Ankara patterned dress with red, yellow and green combo. He wear a braided wigs on his head, she smiles mildly and she gave her own style for the shot.

• 3rd woman: She is in the middle of them all, wearing a navy blue shaping gown with a round neck with beads design, paired with a gold color turban on her head and glasses. She has the widest smile. Her head is bent a little to her left and her right leg in front, and the left leg crossed at the back. What a nice pose for the shot.

• 4th woman: Wearing a yellow blouse top with a matched color wrapper. She wears a wig accompanied with glasses and a chain necklace. She gives a calm smile and a nice pose too for the shot.

• 5th woman, the last one: She is wearing a gold colored set of two pieces dress, holding two phones on her left hand and smiles mildly ready for the shot.

What made that picture special?

Going back to see this photo, it feels like it was planned. It's indeed special. I realized I had a lot to say about it, so I opened my notebook and starts to pen down those points.

In reality, they're all Mothers. The special thing about this photo is their unity in how the pose for the photograph; arms over shoulders and no one stands alone, but dependent on each other. It speaks support and strength.

One thing funny about this photo is: From the right, the two Moms have four children, and from the left, the same. The Mom in the middle have a unique figure, two children. So you see, it's as if the order of photograph was given to match the reality of these beautiful proud mothers. And none of them has a child that is below 12 years of age.

These takes me to another special and inspiring thing about this one innocent shot I took. What could that be?

Looking at them, I see past just a photo. I see each of them carrying years of sacrifice, pain, labour, prayers, cries, laughter, advice, wins, and resilience. There are countless stories behind those smiles: Emergencies that comes with stress and suspense in the hospital corridors, sleepless nights, late night cries with prayers because of a heavy heart. It's a lot; I can't describe it all. But here they are, standing strong, despite it all. They survived. Tell me why a mother shouldn't be respected.

I took this shot after a special program that we had in our place of worship, it was on a Saturday. It was a heartwarming program filled with experiences, talks and application of the scriptures that gave motivation and encouragements to keep standing firm with our God, Jehovah in all that we do.

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I place my invite to: @sana-khan01, @sana-khan01, @saxopedia, @m-fdo to join the contest

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All photos on this post are taken by me

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