Gratitude,The Perfection Of Light And Shadow and Vivian Maier
I remember pieces of one particularly lazy summer afternoon during my early childhood when the hours were filled with play, laughter and bright sunshine. Lying on a grassy hill next to two friends from my neighborhood, we chatted and plucked petals from "flowers" to play a game of "He loves me. He loves me not."
That was the first time I remember paying any attention to how the sun cast shadows on the Earth. It's when I learned that one hour of the day will always look different than the next.
That might sound trivial but it was an important moment in time for me. Because that particular afternoon ignited my lifelong love of nature and light.
From then on I've become mindful of watching how light can change the look and feel of everything around us. I'm mesmerized by the perfect beauty of light dancing on a sparkling clear lake or the shimmering glow of a majestic mountaintop. I'm in awe of the bright white of the first snowfall of the season or the sheer wonder of a rainbow after a storm.
It's easy to take for granted that the sun rises every day and sets every night, and in between light and shadow plays games with what we see in our waking hours.
Recently someone I hadn't heard from in a few years called to say she saw a post of mine on Facebook. The post briefly talked about a documentary I enjoyed on Netflix called "Finding Vivian Maier." The film discusses the life of street photographer Vivian Maier who skillfully captured on film people and architecture in over 150,000 photographs, photographs that remained undiscovered until after her death.
I borrowed the movie's companion book from my friend, a book that illustrates Ms. Maier's masterful black-and-white portraits from an era gone by. She captured the essence of good photography with light, shadow and passion.
Seeing Ms. Maier's photographs took me back to that summer day so long ago, of the lessons I learned about light and shadow, and the simple pleasure of enjoying the artwork around us created by sunlight and the light of the moon.
I've climbed a mountain before dawn and sat on a beach before sunrise. Watching how light changes over the course of a day is a gift and one of life's simple pleasures. I hope you take time to be mindful of how it unfolds around you.
What time of day is your favorite?