Soliloquy; My greatest companion.
By Barbra Guya
Do you ever think of sharing your thoughts out loud? I often cringe at the idea! Not because of anything untoward but just because we are often faced with the fear that nobody will care what we think. And so our deepest, most true stories remain hidden...playing in the background like lounge music at that fancy five star hotel. “Oh gosh! This is too tedious!...Who will even read this?!” she thought.... Holding herself back from writing what she truly thinks. Sounds like an old romance novel, right?! But isn’t the point to romanticize life? To be whimsical? To be brave enough to open so we can connect? Connection is many times impossible without the “cringe” - vulnerability, awkwardness, emotions...We often experience similar things in different fonts but struggle to connect because perhaps we are yet to find someone articulate what it is we feel. Telling your story sometimes is giving /lending language to those things that we can’t quite explain, therein connecting in a much deeper way.
So when I saw the poster about the Picha Photography challenge 2026 - I felt this bubbling urge to share what I thought about UBUNTU. This bantu word that grew into a philosophy - "I am because we are" - emphasizing communal interconnectedness, empathy, and shared humanity. The analyst that I am called up chatty real quick and one sentence from the response stuck with me - "a person is a person through other people". A big part of our experience of the world, of life, is influenced by how others experience us. Call it socialisation, culture etcetera ...no man is an island! And the first “person” we interact with is our inner voice...that voice that is the soundtrack to your life. Replaying scenarios, imagining how I’d respond to a question, trying to explain feelings...
Everyday, there was a prompt released that really made me think about what I thought about UBUNTU. On the first day, I posted a picture that I felt fit into the prompt but without a caption. Soliloquy had already had a full on monologue about why that picture fit into the day’s theme but quickly rebutted. Cringe seconded the rebuttal and that was that. By day two, the bubbling urge had reduced to a simmer - because I felt as though no one would understand why I selected that specific picture for my submission. I don’t know if other photographers experience this but for me, every picture has a story - there is a way I see it that others may not. A picture of a tree may be just that to many but to me, it's about the moment, the feeling in that moment, and why it was important to capture. So by day two, I started adding captions!
Released from the shackles of Cringe, I gave Soliloquy carte blanche. Once I started typing, I did not stop - letting the words flow out of me as I heard them in my mind, raw and unfiltered. And so I wrote, and I wrote...and that is when the audience began to engage. Thoughts I thought were too much, were just right. The images were seen through the lens I took them from and this fundamentally affirmed something to me - that my story is always worth sharing and is to be shared. For what is the use of a thing if it is not used? It's not the first time I’ve shared about my motherhood story, and oftentimes, this is the story that has the most impact. Day 3 was a snap shot into a moment very dear to me. I spoke about it at a time when my son - captured in the picture in my mother’s arms - had just gone off to boarding school...and let me tell you the thoughts have been intrusive in the most mama-bear of ways. I wrote about it at a time when I was missing him dearly and the soundtrack in my mind was more like punk rock than smooth jazz. It gave me a sense of relief to share how I felt about UBUNTU “We, not me” , it was a reminder of why I do what I do and the importance of sharing what it’s like.
In those words, many have found a voice, have connected and felt seen...perhaps got a snap shot into a future reality they wish for. My greatest wish is to positively impact lives and this challenge gave me a platform to do just that. The same way Soliloquy stays in my mind, dozens of pictures I capture stay in my gallery - memories of moments I felt something that I often go back to and enjoy. This experience also challenged me to free those images and share the moments with others. UBUNTU tells us we are through others and what better way to experience this than through sharing. I am grateful for the experience especially because it spurred me to write and share more! And confirmed that my thoughts are not as cringe as I thought. Soliloquy is just the drawing board in my creative process - sharing is the masterpiece.
Could you share something from your gallery with the world? You know, those pics that were such great shots but never made it out of your phone /camera... to make it even better, share your soliloquy as a caption and see what happens!
