Tag Archives: Seeing the Light

Waiting

Apr
24
2015
by IBK | 1 Comment

IBKimage2013

 

 

We are often in a hurry to bring a task to completion; hurry along a discomfort that we want to avoid; have pain end and so on.  We are often eager to fulfill our own plans instead of waiting to hear or discern other options. When we’ve lost something we have an opportunity to discover what’s most important in our life … and yet if we forgo the waiting we miss the opportunity to welcome the light to dispel the darkness.  T.S. Eliot in a poem called: “East Coker” states this beautifully:

 

“I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope, For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; Wait without love, For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith ,But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting; Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought; So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”

 

Today’s image comes from an early morning waiting for light in Telluride, Colorado.

IBK

 

Posted in Seasons, Waiting Also tagged , |

Waiting

Dec
13
2013
by IBK | 2 Comments

©IBKimage2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very early one morning, in October, a group of photographers attending a Frans Lanting Workshop car-pooled to Four Mile Beach near Santa Cruz, California .  In the dark we gathered our equipment and layers of clothing and walked a half of a mile to the water. I had forgotten my headlight, but others guided us along the path with a variety of light devices .  We arrived at the water’s edge and heard the tide coming in before we saw it. After the initial shock of  the cold tide coming in over my water shoes ,worn for stability on the slippery rocks, I was overcome with emotion and could only weep at the beauty pressing itself into all of my senses and my soul.

 

We set up our tripods on the wet sand, and I peered into the fog and tried to find something to take a picture of.  Gradually I saw the shape of a surfer and then several more and then as dawn’s light appeared, the waves,  rocks, and vegetation magically appeared.  I took a few pictures, and  then proceeded to move to another view.  At that moment our leader Frans happened along and asked another participant and I if we’d like some coaching  in what we were seeing and so on.  Yes of course we did and he proceeded to tell us to watch how the incoming and outgoing waves created very different patterns and flows and many other things that I had never, ever, had thought about.  I can only describe it as a seeing beyond.

 

I took a few pictures and started to look for  another view.  Frans kindly but emphatically asked:  “Where are you going ? You’ve got a great spot here … work it … learn to wait for it” … and oh my, how those few words from a gifted teacher have taken me in new directions both personally and as a photographer.   My impatience and jumping from one thing to another has often stopped me from experiencing something that I was to learn.  I remember a long ago phrase that nurtured me well when I used to (and still do) get ahead of myself.  Wait, watch, pray, trust and obey.

 

Today’s image is from that sacred morning.  In the midst of the fog,churning waves and low light, our early bird is perched and … waiting.

It’s good to be back and in the coming weeks I’ll share some insights that I’ve been learning in a time of intense transition and … waiting.

IBK

 

 

 

Posted in Insight, Inspiration, Waiting Also tagged , |

Discovering the Grain

Sep
19
2013
by IBK | 0 Comments

©IBKimage 2012

 

My father was a German master cabinet maker.  New projects began with a trip to the small town lumber yard where we lived.  He would look through the various  offerings and then make a choice based on the end use , the hardness or softness, the straightness of the piece, the unique grain running through it and so on.  I would watch him draft a plan for the object ; measure, cut, plane, sand, smooth, file, turn, nail together, dovetail, glue, bore, chisel and numerous other processes to get the end result.  The best part of all was when it was all ready for finishing.  In photography we call it post processing. The intent is the same, to take a well crafted wooden article (or a well composed photo) and bring out the best from the raw material. In wood-working this is usually done by adding a stain to bring out the beauty of the unfinished grain. My father disliked covering up the grain with paint.  Today’s manufactured particle board has to be covered up since there’s no unique grain.

In the Biblical book of Proverbs  22:6 we are told to “train up a child in the way they should go and when old they will not depart from it.”  The lesson is that instead of conforming our children to our desires and dreams for them, we actually are encouraged to help them find and recognize their “bent” and then provide an environment for that to develop and to provide boundaries and correction when off the path.

As we mature, it is often hard to continue to honor that bent among the many novelties calling out for our attention.

Today’s image comes once again from the Queen City Architectural Salvage Yard here in Denver where the discarded  can be restored and transformed with love to once again delight in its bent.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , |

Gratitude

Aug
24
2012
by IBK | 2 Comments

©IBKimage2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, but not often enough I “get over myself”and just relish the dance in the moment. Last week I joined a photography “Meetup” at the Denver Botanic Garden for a member’s only 7:00 a.m. entry before the general public admission at 9:00.  How delightful to be able to “capture” morning’s soft light offering and it’s cool breeze.  When I put the camera to my eye to frame a shot, all of the tensions of a hundred details attended to in the previous week, float away, and  the music of intentional seeing starts its tune.  Here a color, there a texture, water flowing, interesting patterns, butterflies landing,bees pollinating, reflections on the pond, water lilies opening on their own schedule …. and I’m released from mine.

 

Todays image could be cropped to capture only the most beautiful  strong proud “pick of the litter” (I live in Denver where there are almost as many dogs as flowers … I digress) and that’s where the focus usually is, but if you saw the image in full size you’d see the most beautiful light illuminating the bent stems of the drooping flower.  The flowers are still alive, but just not strong enough to stand upright.  A reminder perhaps that sometimes we have to take a leave of absence  from our, activities, challenges, schedules, burdens, losses, and incessant doings. A  garden to dance in and to wait, watch and listen as one season follows  another, one flower dies another shoots up new life.  Meanwhile the light shines in the darkness and the early morning light.  How divine.

 

IBK

Posted in Aging, Letting Go, Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , , , |

Light on a Snowy Night

Dec
02
2011
by IBK | 2 Comments

 

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©IBKimage2009

 

Waking up from a sound sleep at 2:49 a.m. on FRIDAY morning  I realized that I had forgotten to post my Thursday evening blog. The internal judgment engine “started right up”… “this is just your fourth blog and you’ve already forgotten”  … and then I turned it right off.

I had been out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday. On the Tuesday after, I loaded up the car with two people’s luggage and assorted bags,remaining items from my mom effects that had not been moved before, and drove 550 miles in one day; unpacked all previously mentioned;  restocked the electronics to their charging stations; picked up the held mail; opened a piece of mail containing a check; deposited same; drove to a favorite restaurant for much needed nourishment; (pantry pared down to zero before leaving on trip) and so on, all before 6:00 p.m to “beat the rush”… For the next two days I found myself making poor decisions, losing things, massaging aches and pains, spending twice as long doing things and so on.

You’ve all had your unique versions of my tale.  Oh, and did I mention I forgot to post my Thursday night blog … ?

The solution for me was to discover some light at the end of the tunnel on this beautiful snowy day that I had “slogged” through with my non-stop activity.  What I found in today’s image is that there is sometimes light “in the tunnel” that finally moves us beyond ourselves and our proudly worn busyness.  What light is showing up for you today ?

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Letting Go Also tagged , , , |

Seeing in New Ways

Nov
17
2011
by IBK | 11 Comments
Bike At Camden Harbor Maine

©IBKImage 2011

 

Often we avoid that which will take us in a new direction.  Today’s photo came at the end of a night shoot at the Camden Harbor in Maine.   Night shots require a tripod. I really dislike carrying a tripod, and I almost skipped going to the evening class. Anyway I “schlepped” my way along in the dark.  I liked my tripod even less when having to fumble with it in the dark and on a floating dock …

As I heard the designated whistle indicating our shoot was over, I gladly lowered my tripod to its lowest position, walked along the harbor and couldn’t find the van.  I was momentarily lost and turned to see if I could find a class colleague also in the dark.  Then I  “found the light” or rather it found me.  The headlights of a parked car illuminated the bike that I hadn’t previously seen when we started the shoot. I grabbed my now beloved half mast tripod, sat down in the parking lot and shot what is one of my now all time favorite photos.

I love the sea, I love night shots, and love light, but I would have never before considered an old motorized bike as a subject matter for my photography.

What new direction might you take to see something or your situation in a new way?

IBK

 

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , |