8 posts tagged “photography”

I've always liked the printed word and oftentimes try to integrate it in some form into my work.  I remember as a kid writing in words that explained the picture I was drawing or writing in words and dialogue. 

More than one art teacher told me not to include any words at all because the picture spoke for itself, or at least it would if it was a good one.

Then I studied graphic design and was taught that words and text go hand in hand.  Go figure.

What it has come down to in the end is that text is a tool.  It can be used in many ways in combination with an image and depends on the message or idea you are trying to communicate. 

In this particular image, the text is a texture, a filler, but as a lover of the printed word, it is also something that brings me comfort, even when I cannot discern the words.

I've begun to pick up painting again.  Its something I haven't done in a long time because of work and lack of inspiration.  My parents recently convinced me to take a watercolor class and my husband gave me a new set of paints including acrylics, oils, and watercolors.  What else could I do but start up again?

I had done a bit of watercolor on and off during the years, but I hadn't done anything with oils since high school and I'd never used acrylics before.  Its been fun trying and the results are mixed.

This post shows a series of apples.  One photograph, which is my usual "media", one watercolor before the class (red apple), one watercolor after it (green leafy apple), and my first oil in ages (two apples, above).

Fall is my favorite time of the year.  It comes after the unbearably hot, humid August days and provides a fresh welcome relief.  The monochromatic green of trees, plants, and grass changes into a beautiful palette of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, and browns usually set against a deep blue sky. 

On my way to work one day, in the most unexpected spot, I found a puddle in a parking lot.  It was the only puddle in the pavement which happened to be under one of the two trees skirting it.  I found it full of yellow leaves arranged haphazardly, yet perfectly.  If I ever tried to create an arrangement such as this, I would be so utterly unsuccessful and make a whole mess of it.  There is no one like the Creator to make such a beautiful arrangement out of randomness.

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being...
...Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,

Psalm 146:1-2,5-6

Little dirt paths have always captured my imagination.  There has always been something attractive about meandering down a path and enjoying the natural beauty of creation around me.  Whether it be field or forest, spring or fall, sunshine or rain, there's something nostalgic about dirt paths edged with grass or strewn with leaves. 

My mother spoke to me of her early years on a farm where she'd walk home from school down paths skirting fields.  She'd also sing songs that romanticized paths that led home, or to a loved one, or heaven.

Paths have come to represent many things: the journey home, the way to riches, the walk of life, the regret of the path not taken.  I always wonder what kind of journey awaits down this path or that path? Where does it go or where does it come from? Does the path serve a practical purpose forming the shortest route between A and B or is it tantalizingly scenic leading one into hours of reverie?

Most paths form by repeated use and its interesting to think that several others, if not many, have chosen to tread the same path, possibly for generations, with enough frequency to mark out the way they went. Did they appreciate the same views?  Did they enjoy it on a warm, sunny day or rush through with wind and rain pushing them to their destination?  What charms and delights did they find, and did I see them, too, or did I miss them?  These are all questions and ideas that force my curiosity to set foot down the route of a newly discovered path and see where it leads to. 

The paths that charm me the most are narrow paths indicative of one or two people walking down them at a time and with nature intact around them. It is a quieter way, maybe lonelier, but richer in its quality and surroundings.  It brings to mind the following verses from Matthew 7:13,14 about the one important path to take:

Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction,
and there are many who enter through it.
For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life,
and there are few who find it.

I am most fortunate to have been led to that path!

So it is a mix of these thoughts and sensations that draws me to capture a path such as the "Winding Path" above and hope it brings an echo of these thoughts to others, too.

I've always been fascinated by lighthouses.  I grew up on the coast and could see one on an island in the harbor.  It was quite close, but always unreachable to me over the expanse of deep harbor water.  Despite that, I felt that it was my view and therefore my lighthouse.  After all, I never saw anybody else out there claiming it. I would daydream about it.  Sometimes it was my home, sometimes my hideaway, sometimes my castle tower.  But it always represented a place of security and the hope of a peaceful life. I can't say that I had a terrible childhood, but I did have some difficult experiences that shaded it.  I felt lost, sometimes forgotten, and lonely in the crowd that was family.  The lighthouse called out to me as a place of serenity and rest as it stood there standing guard on its little piece of earth.  Later I came to relate that with the One True Light shining in the darkness as described in John 1.  There's something about that passage that has always been comforting to me.  That Christ, the True Light came and shone His light in the darkness of our lives that was sin.  The reaction of many then and now is to hide from the light back into the darkness, but that Light is there as the clear path of salvation, the only path to salvation.  Just like a lighthouse marking the way in darkness and storm to the only entry to the safe harbor, to security, to peace, so it is with Christ my savior.  The harbor is heaven, security is in God's promises of His love and eternal life, and peace is that internal peace which only God gives that passes all understanding.

Here is what inspired this image:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-14