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| A Luminous Light |
Light is the language
of the landscape.
Some days the light fairly sings, like this morning under the crab apple tree. It was like this, soft and luminous, for just a few minutes. Just long enough for me to record this scripture of light.
Snow usually gives a sharp white light with stark blue/violet shadows. It is not easy to photograph. But this day, there was a warm glow to the snow and there was no glaring contrast. It seemed to emit light rather than reflect it. I know that may sound strange but it was the sensation I got as I look out the window at it.
At moments such as this, I understand why light has always been associated with the spiritual. Through time and across cultures, light is the supreme scriptural metaphor. This day I finally "got" James Turrell's statement about the consciousness of light. You can re-read the original post here.
After I made this photograph, I just sat and gazed at the scene, afraid to blink for fear it would disappear in that instant. It did slowly fade away after about five minutes and I was left with such a feeling of profound thankfulness that my camera and I were there to bear witness to the sight.
I felt that after weeks of in-dwelling this Winter; of embracing both stability and the wonderful Taoist practice of Wu Wei, photographing only what comes to me, I was given an amazing gift in this image. No, more than the image it was the experience...the photograph is but a translation of the experience and never equal to it. This will be my Icon of the Experience for the Winter of 2013/2014. The image that says it all for me.
Another post on James Turrell's amazing installation at the Guggenheim last year may also provide some further illumination on light....
6 comments:
Oh my, Patricia, what a lovely post, and the image Divine! - "written not with words but with photons." Oh my yes! It does leave a sense of gratitude and awe...as if we have shared something sacred - and we have - through your seeing... Emitting light indeed!
I was so awed by the light that morning that it was nearly a mystical encounter with the divine. I never imagined that light could have that effect but I do now. Heavenly....
Yes, what a gift. That image is so magnificent. I'm glad you were able to see it and share it with us.
Once you experience that kind of divine light it changes everything. I wish that experience for all my readers, I truly do.
And we all truly love this idea that we each can be 'gifted' by Divine light.. The scriptures do say that 'God is light' and that all things are possible, so James Turrell's statement fits the good book...!
I've always believed that there is something special about light and the more I pursue this thing called contemplative photography the more I see that it is far more that we can imagine.
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