A Love Letter to the In-Between.
Ever feel like a song, a memory, or an old photo just pulls you back to yourself?
You know that feeling... when life feels like music — an endless rhythm flowing from one moment to the next. No sharp beginning, no definite ending — just a seamless current, like a school of fish moving as one. Effortless. Timeless. Together... together...
For some, it’s a walk in the park or a good song that does the trick. But for me, it’s always been the ocean. Being surrounded by that vast, mighty presence makes me feel wordless, thoughtless — simply present. You know that feeling, when you’re standing at the shore and the roaring sea just hushes everything inside you? You know what I mean?
Ali Shah Lakhani
The in-between moments
A little about me. I often find myself experiencing life in bits and pieces — I’m sure it’s the same for most people, but hey, this is my blog, no?
Anyway, as I was saying...
I usually carry my camera in my bag and take random pictures all the time. But over the last year or so, I’ve found myself not liking most of the work I produce. After a while, it feels like I’m just repeating my style. Still, I never delete the photos — I keep them, hoping that someday, when I feel the second half of this feeling, I’ll come back and turn them into a zine, an album, or a blog post.
In these long pauses, I often revisit those captured moments, trying to figure out what I was really feeling when I took them.
I call these the in-between moments — the ones between chaos and calm.
Ever experienced that?
I guess this is what they call meditative photography — when the camera becomes a way to pause, not capture.
Together, no matter what.
Maybe the reason we all tap the glass at aquariums is because, in some strange way, we feel free.
We see these animals — moving in their own rhythm, in their own worlds — and something in us softens.
It’s funny though, right? I say free, but they’re technically caged.
And yet… maybe being caged is sometimes part of feeling free?
Does that make sense?
For some people, freedom is about safety — about feeling secure, protected, inside a bubble. For others, it’s the opposite — no strings, no identities, no walls. In more ways than we realize, we’re just like those animals. Some of us swim wild. Some float in the calm of our bubbles. But we’re all here.
Together.
Bound by this strange, invisible contract we call humanity.
Ali Shah Lakhani
Ali Shah Lakhani
Dance of existence.
This pure dance — first losing yourself, then finding who you truly are.
Making mistakes, realizing them, apologizing.
Feeling the weight of loss, and then eventually accepting that it all happened for a reason.
This is the dance we all experience.
Balance only comes after imbalance, by first drifting off course, then noticing, adjusting, and returning to our center.
Have you ever watched a clownfish living in an anemone?
They rock back and forth with the ocean’s current, making tiny corrections with every motion.
Always moving, always adjusting — gently returning to equilibrium.
Ali Shah Lakhani
Ali Shah Lakhani
Mix bunch
I was recently browsing this app, The Inner Circle, and a question popped up:
If you were to create an album about your life in just 5 frames, which frames would you choose?
It made me pause.
Something I’ve come to understand early in life is the art of curating your own moments — like building a book of me. Picking which moments to hold close, and which to gently let fade into the background.
It’s a lot like culling a photo library.
This idea of going on a journey with people who matter has always resonated deeply with me.
But for the longest time, I think I misunderstood it.
I used to believe there had to be a set group — the same people, showing up for all the “star moments” in my story.
But life, it turns out, doesn’t work like that.
These days, I see it more like a film.
Every good story has a mix of characters — some main, some passing through, some only there for one beautiful, strange scene.
And that’s what makes it rich. That’s what makes it fun.
Speaking of which...
Here are some honest frames I took of my mom and dad on the way to the aquarium.
Maybe they’ll make it into the album. Maybe not.
But for now, they matter.
I was recently watching The Last of Us Part II, and there’s this one song that’s been on repeat for the past few days.
I guess it had something to do with me finally picking up the job of editing — and writing this blog.
I’m playing it right now, as I write this.
So I’ll leave you with it.
Hope you find your story.
Ali Shah Lakhani