Moment: Rebecca Norris Webb

Rebecca Norris Webb, Wasp, 2017, from the Radius book, Night Calls.

By Rebecca Norris Webb

I made this photograph while working on my book, Night Calls, in which I retraced the route of some of my now 102-year-old doctor father’s house calls through the same rural county where we both were born. I was staying with friends who lived next to the farm where my father grew up, and where four generations of our Quaker family had also lived. Living so close to this land rich in memory and history, I often felt like I was walking with the family ghosts when I photographed along Blue River Road. Living so close to death—my childhood friend’s husband was dying of cancer—made all of us in the household keenly aware of the achingly sweet vulnerability of life.

When I saw this wasp in my friend’s kitchen window, I remembered my mother’s advice: Never swat the wasp that’s chosen your house. Feed her honey—one teaspoon left on the windowsill—and fear will leave the sweetest aftertaste. So, I decided to catch and release the wasp—and, being a photographer, I couldn’t resist taking one last look with my camera.

To view more of Rebecca’s work, visit her website and her Instagram.