Striking a Pose For Love

In the world of prison, everything has meaning, everything is important. The world of prison visitation is no exception. From the first closely watched "brief" hug and kiss, to the food choices in the vending machine, each inmate and their significant other attempt to derive meaning from their interactions. This is very true in the case of the visitation photo. Posing is key and often it is good to have a pose in mind prior to the actual taking of the photograph. Some think this is small potatoes, but I have seen the photo make or break the visitation experience. To me the most fascinating aspect of the photography experience is the pose. The pose of a couple can denote so many different aspects of their relationship. Can communicate so much unspoken information. Maybe the confusion and differing of opinions regarding the poses that Isaac and I share says volumes about us...either way we have fun figuring it out.

Well, we finally did it. Isaac managed to finagle me into doing the most popular prison picture pose, yet the most loathed by me. Picture this: prom basically with a institutional twist that includes a numbered jumpsuit instead of a tux and a tag that says "offender visitor " instead of a corsage. Isaac had begged me to do the "hold you from behind" pose for months PRIOR to our first contact visit. I finally broke down and let him have his wish at our visit this past week...and you know it really was not that horrible. For me all I was picturing was his tattooed arms circling my thick waist and me feeling like a bloated whale with him hiding in my shadow. I think I might have exaggerated that premise just a tad, because honestly the love in our eyes was enough to make the absurdity of the pose obsolete in this photograph. It is funny though that when it becomes picture time during visitation, we just somehow melt into a pose if we have not chosen one already. I wrap my arms around his waist from the side and he holds my back gently with both hands. It feels so natural and so lovely to rest my head on his shoulder. This touch is craved by the cells of our bodies. Intimacy cannot be taken for granted. So what is our next pose going to be? Isaac and I discuss this often, because the pictures really are very important to us. They are evidence of our relationship, of our love, of the fact that we were simply allowed in the same room together. I get embarrassed when I remember how I asked the unenthusiastic guard to retake the picture and how he looked at me as though I had just spoken to him in a foreign tongue. To him our moment was absurd, but to us it was heaven..no matter how cheesy or poignant, it was nothing less than perfect.