Prelude

The title of this blog comes from a passage of Baudelaire that I came across in Walter Benjamin for a French class I took last year. It struck me the moment I read it, and I copied it down, somehow knowing it would come in handy someday…
ka·lei·do·scope - 1817, lit. "observer of beautiful forms," coined by its inventor, Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), from Gk. kalos "beautiful" + eidos "shape" + -scope, on model of telescope, etc. Figurative meaning "constantly changing pattern"
con·scious·ness - the totality in psychology of sensations, perceptions, ideas, attitudes, and feelings of which an individual or a group is aware at any given time or within a given time span
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Today, as I prepare to leave for a two-month internship in Madagascar, these words and this phrase take on a special meaning.
Last week I watched “The Photographers,” a documentary about the lives of National Geographic Magazine photographers. Awed by the gritty glamour of their lifestyles, I was also struck by something one of them said. It was something to the effect of: “As we do our jobs, we can’t just be taking pictures, we must remember to give something as well.” Sometimes the act of taking a photo is intrusive, voyeuristic, rude, taboo. Sometimes, though, the act can capture a moment and shed light on a situation that strikes a chord in the hearts of people around the world, leading to large-scale change in ways that you never imagined when the shutter clicked.
As I pack my bags, my journal, my cameras for Madagascar - the “Island of the Moon” as sailors once called it - I must be careful not to become a mere “observer of beautiful forms,” taking what I encounter there for my own personal enrichment. I shall seek to be an engaged participant in the community that will become my own for the next two months. I will not hide behind the lens of my camera; I will remain conscious, compassionate, and critical. A camera is just an eye unless a brain is attached.
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This is my promise to the people of Madagascar, and to myself.