Mostly I seem to fall upon blogs about diabetes, not sure why that is since I don't have diabetes (thank goodness) and have never written about it here. Often it's a blog with a distinctly religious slant which I, personally, have little interest in. Each to his own, I absolutely don't mind if someone wants to blog that kind of thing, but it's just not my cuppa tea, as I'm sure my own is of little interest to most people.
Many bloggers are new parents, recording every moment of their children's lives which, even as a non-kidlet person myself, can nevertheless be quite endearing to read (as long as it's not too schmaltzy). Some blogs are uplifting in spite of their content and one quite literally moved me to tears a few years ago. (The heart-wrenching journal of a young woman nursing her ailing 18-year old cat through its last days and struggling, for many months afterwards, to come to terms with her unrelenting sense of loss and emptiness - a familiar story that's a little too close to home. Pet-lovers among us all know that it's never 'just a cat', or dog, or gerbil....)
While it still feels a little voyeuristic at times, I enjoy these momentary, candid connections with complete strangers and often catch myself, even months later, wondering about the lives of those whose blogs I've stumbled upon. Their stories, thoughts and experiences told in words of wit, hope, love, desperation, anxiety, nostalgia, humour, compassion and charm. There's so much to share and learn from one another and so many people out there are doing such amazing - or delightfully mundane - things, or else fretting and over-analyzing the day-to-day (what a relief to know I'm not on my own).
It's a remarkable feeling to be captivated, enchanted and so wonderfully inspired by someone you've never even met, simply through their photographs and the stories they tell. Beautiful, funny, endearing, sensitive, delightfully candid and evocative images which, through lack of accompanying text, are every bit as au naturel as the children within them.
Bare, muddy, feral kids, running wild through sodden fields, clambering the banks of murky rivers and cannon-balling into their backyard, dug-out swimming pool. Just as spirited and carefree as kids should be.
I couldn't help but include a selection of Alain's pictures here but I encourage you to check out his site, Alain Laboile Photographies, to see for yourself just how beautiful these images really are. I am truly in awe of him - I can only aspire to ever have a single ounce of his incredible talent at portrait photography and his ability to capture so perfectly the raw essence of childhood; in such simple, naive, funny and truly natural moments of his family's daily life; kids simply being free to be kids. So wonderfully sauvage, discovering life on their own terms. Similarly, their delicate connections with each other - despite their varied ages - and with the rural landscape and nature that surrounds them; cats, kittens, birds, insects, snakes and even a fawn.
What's more, this fabulous photographer shares the very same birth date as me and lives near Bordeaux - my favourite place in France, where I'd always intended to live. Ho-hum.
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