Have you ever thought about ''light'' and how amazing it is?
I don't mean in a photosynthesis kind of a way, although
that's amazing too, no, I mean in the way light at times
can illuminate something ''ordinary'' in such a way that
it suddenly becomes extraordinary.
Extraordinary beautiful, amazing and enchanting.
Suddenly the rain stopped.
I put down my book on the table.
A sun beam touched my face and made
me look out through the window.
Hanging on to the edge of a leaf was
a drop of water. Engulfed with sunlight
the drop glistened and sparkled like
the finest crystal. The beauty of that
drop, at that moment, had me breathless.
What I should have done was to grab my camera
and take a picture of it but I was so enthralled that
I just sat there and watched the drop until it fell
off the leaf.
That experience made me realize how beauty can be
found in the most unexpected places and unexpected
situations.
This is a photo of some grass growing on the side
of my entrance. There is nothing special about
the grass, but for a brief second the sunlight fell on it
in such a way that it made it extraordinarily beautiful.
This time, I took a photograph of it.
The top image is a photo of broken pieces of glass
on top of a white chalked wall.
What made me stop and take a photo of those broken pieces,
was the way the sunlight fell on them.
Somehow a broken beer bottle on a white background
had become an impromptu, beautiful,
''art installation'' in my eyes.
Light is a form of energy, a type of electromagnetic
radiation that allows our eyes to ''see'' things.
However, what we see varies from person to person
as what we see, is filtered through our biases, perceptions
and cultural experiences.
Enjoying an art exhibition with a friend, suddenly before
us was a huge, yellow installation. (Really huge!)
It had an entrance at one end of it so I walked
in to it. As I found my way through it I was filled
with a sense of awe. Actually, I felt as if I had entered some
sort of a cathedral....a blow-up yellow cathedral
entirely made out of plastic.
And the light, mmmm .........the light inside the installation
was comforting, peaceful and calming.
I don't really know how much time I spent in the cathedral,
but when I emerged from it my friend
was gone.
Later, when I finally caught up with her, I asked
her what she thought of the ''yellow cathedral''.
-Cathedral? What cathedral? Oh, you mean that
yellow plastic monstrosity? she said.
Alas, we saw the same thing very differently.
In my view,
just as light can turn something ordinary into
something beautiful and extraordinary, so can poor/dull/bad
lighting turn something ordinary into something scary/
threatening/unwelcoming.
If we are seeking to find beauty in the ordinary,
then a mindset that looks past the obvious subject
matter(thing/person/etc.) is very helpful as is patience and
a bit of imagination methinks.
Have you ever used a kaleidoscope?
It's quite amazing.
With each turn a new beautiful image appears
as you hold it up to the light.
about the images: photos taken with an old Canon,
the kaleidoscope image, watercolor on paper
some editing in Elements
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