a story of hands

I find hands fascinating.  They are as diverse as the people they are attached to.  Large, small, strong, graceful, flexible, young, old, soft, or weathered.  I feel they hold stories all their own.  What have they held?  What have they made?  What work have they done?  We use our hands every moment of every day, most times not paying much attention.  We eat ~ touch ~ create ~ speak ~ love with our hands.   The same pair of hands can be fiercely strong one moment and then gentle the next.  We clap them in celebration.  We use them to make music.  We cup them to catch tears.  We grasp them in solidarity.  We offer them in greeting.  

 The other evening my husband was working with some bread dough.  I was drawn to the rhythm of his hands.  Like a dance they moved together then apart, never hesitating.  I especially liked this shot above.  One hand steady and still as the other moved wildly alone.  Those hands creating bread for us to eat.  Those hands that have held mine for many years now.  Those hands that once cradled our babies.  Those hands have many stories, some of which i know and are a part of, and some that will forever remain a mystery to me.   I like those hands.  

Today, share a story of someone's hands you know.

Comments

[Marcie]

Altho I don't have a close-up of these men and their hands..I couldn't help but be captivated by the speed and skill by which they manipulated the hot glass they were working with.
http://www.marciescudderphotography.com/index.php?showimage=1015
I - too - share that same fascination with hands..and the stories they might tell.

[isaida]

I love hands too! I have a post on my blog titled Daddy's Hands with a picture of my husband and our youngest son hands.

http://mami-dearest.blogspot.com/2009/02/daddy-hands.html

[claudia]

My father was a jeweler and I regret never photographing his hands at work.
Here are some I shot this summer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurohunt/3881382371/in/set-72157622155764262/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurohunt/3724966370/

[camerashymomma ~ meredith winn]

beautiful kristin. love the words especially. and his hands.
today i'm sharing an oldie, maybe because it's a rainy foggy winter day here and i'm feeling nostalgic, and because even through all we've been through, i still love his hands, they will always be what brought us together even though we are apart.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2669187642/

[Katrina Kennedy]

My mother's hands. One of my favorite photos

http://ianck.blogspot.com/2010/01/think-about-future-when-snapping.html

[Debi]

I so love your story & image. Hands are a subject I, too, am drawn to, in photos & in artwork. The image attached is a "painting" of a neighborhood full of hands - those of us who drew close as our 90-something neighbor moved closer to death and soon was gone; a woman we all loved dearly. The glue that held us together, young, old, black, white, conservative, liberal. Differences to embrace, to laugh about. It is a painting of handprints, done for me, never to be sold, mine. A memory of the fall of 2008.

http://emmatree.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-we-are-all-together.html

[xanthe]

lovely post. this image is so beautiful.... the movement, his wedding ring and dusting of flour. wonderful.

often drawn to hands myself, i especially like to photograph them offering...

this is one of my favourites, his offering meant so much.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xantheberkeley/3934903192/

[xanthe]

p.s how lovely the owp and daily click are hands too!

[beth]

years and years of loving and learning....these hands belong to my brother-in-laws aunt and I felt they said so much the day I took this photo...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29291473@N04/4274342630/

[Kristin Zecchinelli]

thanks xanthe, yes i try whenever i can to pick a shot that coincides with my post.
XO!

[Beryl]

my hands, ready to receive good things in 2010.

http://bellarose-photography.com/?p=611

[amy]

this nearly made me cry:) kristin!
i adore hands ! beautiful post!

[Ali]

tender teenage hands. http://crazytobeme.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/1086/

[spread your wings]

thanks for this beautiful post
this is one project my daughter and I talked about at Christmas. Hands are very interesting (however i don't like photos of my own hands - ha). My dad was a surgeon, is a carpenter, bread maker, blacksmith, etc - there are all types of great shots waiting to be taken of his hands. My mom is a painter, quilter, doll maker, etc - again lots of opportunities for hand portraits. The photos haven't been been taken in a professional manner yet - a good thing to focus of this year. thanks

[mosey along]

I can remember both of my grandmothers hands. Both completely different, one always with long nails, the other with cropped, neat nails, their palms cupping my chin or knitting or making tea. I didn't realize how much I looked at hands until I noticed how many pictures I take of my daughter's.

Here's one. Someday, I'll have to upload all the photos of her hands I've taken since she was a baby.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7687752@N03/4224834610/

[threekusjes]

Beautiful image & words Kristin~
I like so many, also adore hands....
even sleeping hands as seen here~

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swimknitmama/3455820905/in/set-72157606595559522/

[Tracy]

taken this weekend of my dear friend:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31417716@N00/4274400776/

[Jessica]

I love watching my daughter's busy little hands at work. Beautiful post Kristin.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/27982366@N06/4274194564/

[mharper]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37719283@N04/3865583043/ i ♥ their hands. each callous and vein, each spot and wrinkle. oh the stories they could tell. their life is in their hands. i'm so thankful to be a part of them.
i'm painting this shot for them right now. it was supposed to be for christmas, but i'm slow. it'll probably be for valentine's. ;)
lovely post. thanks for sharing.
xo,
mary

[Hannah]

My lovely boyfriends hands playing me a song on my birthday <3

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanitious/4184627509/in/set-72157622729456585/

[Jess]

my son's resilience: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theloushe/3589561843/

[Elizabeth Harper]

These are the hands of my favorite girl ...

http://giftsofthejourney.com/Elizabeth_Harper-Gifts_of_the_Journey/Blog/Entries/2008/12/25_Love_Is_The_Gift.html

[Beth Yeaw]

My husband's hands have always represented warmth, strength and security to me. He is also very creative and has done so much work with his hands.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/9804292@N03/3852099481/

[Julie Alvarez]

You know what?
My own hands are my subject now (http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/3375634792/in/set-72157614850941160/). I am loving them (always did) and learning to look at them from a different angle.
But I am big hand observer.
And I have a whole set of photos devoted to them!:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/sets/72157614850941160/

[Carmen]

Here's a photo of my midwife gently stroking my newborn baby. Midwives are incredibly giving people, so I'm offering up this photo as a tribute to all midwives!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63409538@N00/4274603908/

[qmama]

beautiful photo and story. today, i am thinking about all of the helping hands in haiti.

[Kelli]

Love it....wrote a post about my thoughts ..

[brittany]

a week in the hospital (sick hand)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sivyerfamily/4233709677/

and a nap at home later (well hand)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sivyerfamily/4248682970/

[Angela]

I took this photo in 2007 and it's always been a favorite of mine.

My nephew and his grandpa (my step-dad).

My step-dad never had children of his own and came into my life when I was 13 (awful teenager as far as he was concerned). But now we are close and have a wonderful relationship...although it took us years to get here. So the bond he has with my nephew, the instant connection between the two of them from the day my nephew was born, is so very awesome to witness.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marang/1661698789/in/set-72157594163585722/

[Cindi Barker]

Hands are such a powerful subject. Exactly one year ago I made some specific attempts to capture a series of shots of my mother's hands, because she is such an inspiration to me and I wanted to show all the giving and creative things she does. This image is one of my favorites and does not show her holding some doll booties she knit but rather, very small booties for premature infants who are born before the parents have prepared. Some manage to leave the ICU healthy and some are buried in the clothes she prepares.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjb_phodographer/4274679612/

[Shannon]

There is a secret picture I keep tucked away in the back of a scrapbook and hidden in an envelope. It's a picture of my grandmother's hands I took at her funeral. We had only become closer towards the end of her life and I never got to photograph her doing the things she loved like sewing, knitting, weaving and handspinning yarn. I do remember the feel of her hands on mine, though - cool, strong and a bit withered with age. I can still picture her fingers delicately moving threads or wrapping warps when she taught me how to weave.

I'm glad my family didn't mind when I took the picture of her in the casket and did another close up on her hands. I keep it tucked away because I'm not sure if people would think it was . . . weird. But I take it out and look at it now and again when I want to remember her.

[bekkah]

I took this shot at my cousin's wedding over the weekend. I suppose it's not a 'traditional' wedding shot, as I've had a couple of people think it was an 'outtake' ;) There's something about this precise moment that's so beautiful...the beginning of a new life together...so much potential. Although their appearances will change over the many years ahead, I hope they will always be hand in hand like this...

http://photophoenix.aminus3.com/image/2010-01-11.html

[Trude]

Love that shot! Have to share this one of my cousin's hand with her (then) new engagement ring this past summer:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trudem/3803036182/in/set-72157600090183928/

It's such a great moment, because she and her fiancee have been together for a long time now, but she's finally ready to tie the knot - her parent's divorce back when we were teenagers really scarred her. I'm so proud that she's taking this next step and happy that she's so happy! And it doesn't hurt to know he's a great guy that the whole family loves. :)

[Diane]

Hands hiding a sweet little face...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mackvilleroad/4259767955/

[GayleV]

I LOVE hands, too. They are so much a part of who we are because they are responsible for the DOing of our lives! These are some of my favorite pictures of my 18 mo. old boys hands at work

http://www.flickr.com/photos/momandcamera/4274049025/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/momandcamera/4274063263/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/momandcamera/4274063209/

[Kate]

Lovely post, Kristin:) Here are a few hand photos of my own:

http://mamayou.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/hands/

[lucy]

these are my friend sherry's hands, in the light from a tiki torch on a summer night. i thought they looked beautiful.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucyloomis/3721411447/

[Meghan Senkel]

Beautiful shot! I'm so glad I found this website (through the SOAR! Scholarship) and I've very much enjoyed all of the posts.

[Kim Klassen]

this is an amazing image....and such a lovely post.

i shared an image on our blog today of hands...
http://2blessedbeyondbelief.com

xxo, kim

[keli]

i love these hands - constantly moving & exploring.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twelve-paws/4275286984

[xanthe]

p.p.s just had to show you these, they make me happy, because soon they won't want to hold on.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xantheberkeley/4275338396/

[Heather Bell]

My Boyfriend, my best friend, father of my children and the handyman of life. These are the hands that keep me safe. Provide me all of my comforts and heal me with their touch. I love these Hands.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heather_bell/4055890293/

[Mira]

oh yes! thanks for the post. I love hands. They say so much. And strangely, my most recent (although not so recent) blog post. Late december. Appreciating a dear friend's loving hands:

http://thislovelymoment.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/loving-hands/

Which makes me realize, it's really time to post again.

[Tiffani]

well, my hands! they're how I see the world in so many pictures where I'm holding something or showing something...I don't have a lot of pictures of my face, but I do have tons of me holding important and precious things that my kids do or give me :)

Love this post, Kristin!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/childplay/4275467370/

[Martha]

Precious photos of my mother and father's hands, both in their eighties.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14756941@N08/4275649830/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14756941@N08/3256604995/

[Sally]

I've heard that human hands are the hardest part of the body to paint.
Recently I discovered that photographing your own hand isn't easy either. No matter how I positioned it, it didn't look like my hand at all.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41432261@N04/4254636194/

Whenever I get anxious or depressed, I usually cook, garden, or do something similar that involves working hard and rather mindlesslly with my hands. I really do believe there's a soothing quality to "getting your hands dirty", and an atavistic sense of purpose and creation and benefit.

This is my sweet third baby's dimply dumply hand. The abacus she's playing with has been sitting in my gift closet for 3 years, waiting for a first birthday party invitation, since we had two kids and were all set, thanks.
And now it's hers. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41432261@N04/4275679906/

[Sandra]

my hands wrapped around my baby girl.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artfullife/4271860878/

[Kiesha]

I love my husband's hands he can be such a tough guy sometimes like during his workouts with his kettlebells like in this picture
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39033996@N07/4275741458/in/pool-shuttersisters

or super gentle like in this picture feeding our son.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39033996@N07/4275741540/in/pool-shuttersisters

[Michelle Collins]

I love hands too. I met with my dad one day for coffee. These are his hands.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4275040833_d8f5b278d8_b.jpg

[kristin]

thank you all for sharing your wonderful words and images with us today.

beautiful hands and stories.

xo~kristin