On Being Seen
Christine Harris creates space before she creates an image.
Over the years, much of the photography and film woven throughout my site has passed through her lens. She approaches her work with a calm steadiness, the kind that allows a person to settle into themselves rather than perform. Being photographed by her never feels like posing. It feels like arriving.
Christine often says that when you step into a session, you can exhale. That is exactly how it feels. She directs gently, watches carefully, and waits for what is real to surface. The moments in between are the ones she trusts most.
Recently, she created a short film set to John O’Donohue’s For a New Beginning. A single flower unfolds across the screen. Light shifts. Petals open. The words speak of stepping forward when the path is not yet clear.
What moved me most was the call to begin again, and the way she held that idea. There is no urgency in the film. No spectacle. The courage it speaks of is interior. Steady. A quiet trust that something is already forming.
That is Christine’s gift. She does not impose meaning. She allows space for it.
She began her photography career in her fifties, first in a small village in Upstate New York, and now in Los Angeles. Whether she is creating portraits or working with flowers, the thread is the same. Attention. Patience. Respect for who someone is right now.
She also created a short film of me for this site. Being photographed by a friend requires a particular kind of trust. You release control. You allow yourself to be seen without adjusting the edges. That experience was a gift I will always value.
Christine’s work reminds me that being seen well is an art. And that art begins with listening.
You can watch the film below.
If her work speaks to you, I hope you will follow along. Photographers who approach their craft with this kind of care are worth staying with.
