Training My Eyes to See

One of the ways I've recently challenged myself creatively is with low-light photography. I've practiced manipulating my camera settings in order to capture light and shadows in less than ideal conditions, attempting to produce a creative image. One of the things I love about photography as an art is the authenticity of an image, especially when that image captures a reality that the casual eye would likely miss. The photographers I hope to emulate are those who can artistically frame and interpret ordinary moments, rendering the mundane beautiful.

Photographs are true reflections of a reality, and it's been a helpful pursuit for me to intentionally look for beautiful things in ordinary places and in difficult circumstances. Truly, over the last decade this has been an intentional discipline of mine (with and without my camera): to look for beauty, to see God's care in creation, to revel in wonder, to name the graces, to count the blessings... to pause long enough find the good in difficult circumstances and ugly environments. It's not about looking at life through rose-colored glasses, but about seeing what is truly there just as it actually exists right before my eyes. This has helped me grow in gratefulness to God.

I'm not the type of photographer I'd like to be. In fact, I don't consider myself a "photographer" at all, except that I take pictures. I'm an amateur with aspirations to learn still more.

After the rain one evening at the close of December, when the sun was setting and the clouds loomed dark, I set out with my rain coat to find and creatively capture easily over-looked charm and beauty.

Our neighbor's trees

 The view from the end of our cross street: ocean fog rising above the setting sun.

Weeds against the darkening sky

Succulents in the ditch

A moody sky and afterglow

Night falling

Who would have guessed the liquor store lights at the bottom of the hill, along with the train stop lights where the drunkards gather, would make such a dazzling backdrop? Dead, dried out weeds suddenly look glamorous. It's reality from a different point of view, and I just needed to intentionally pause long enough to see it.

Want more reality? How about when family plans get foiled due to holiday crowds and we end up here instead and every one's grumpy? Let the heart settle and look once more for detail. Accept that life isn't always happy and fun; remember it's not individual moments that count most, but the summation of many moments. Look also for the big picture of life.

Sometimes, I simply have to take the picture I want to remember, even if the light conditions are less than optimal and the surrounding details are bland. There are many instances when documenting ordinary life is more valuable than a creative or perfectly executed photograph. For instance, here, the evening Jacob challenged Jon to a serious game of chess.

The lack of a willing subject can be a deterrent to learning, so I occasionally step into that awkward role. Taking pictures from above the view finder and into the mirror presented another layer of difficulty to low-light, but no one learns without a good challenge. Embracing challenge has to be a way of life, yes? So does getting over personal embarrassment!

Seeing, noting, and capturing something of my actual surroundings is a fun pursuit, but it doesn't compare to being aware of a greater reality. Spiritual reality is of greater importance than temporal and material reality and it cannot be contained in a frame. I often pray that God would illuminate to me something of his goodness and power towards us. I pray for spiritual discernment, eyes that see his beauty, a heart that would be perceptive to his glory, and lips that render praise. Someday I will see perfectly.

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part;

then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

1 Cor.13:12

~Katherine