Advent Light Post 12/3/2020

The photo is Karen P's mom, Joan, who has been in quarantine in an assisted living residence since March. Her birthday party was a few months before all this began. Light for hope. Hope for light.

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Yesterday I wrote “I liked figuring out the best way to position my stance in order to frame whatever it was I wanted to focus on.”

Point of View. 

I was thinking about this. I know what I meant – when taking a photograph it makes a HUGE difference where you, the photographer, stand. The tree trunk may be awesome, but is it more awesomely textured from this side, or can you see the ridges better if you stand a couple feet further to the right or left?  When taking a photo of another human, you can do it straight on, subject staring at you like school photographers and Diane Arbus do (did). Or you can line up your family members but then walk to the end of the line and have them all turn their heads to look at you and now you have a humdinger of a photo. 

Point of view is critical. Think media networks - NBC, OANN, FOX, PBS. Consider what holidays mean to others. What Christmas meant to you when you were a child and what it means now. Think what our flag means. Think about how you remember the drinkers, users, and abusers in your parents’ and grandparents’ generations. What you know will often change if you walk around it.

Your assignment (hah) for today is to pay attention to one tree, or fellow human being, or news story that you encounter today. Walk all the way around it to see how the light falls.

“and what I know from my studies and from my life is that there is no such thing as a true event. We know dates and times and locations and participants but accounts of what happened depend upon the perspective from which the event is viewed.”
― William Kent Krueger, Ordinary Grace

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Jennifer B.

“But somewhere in the vault of our hearts, in a place our brains can’t or won’t touch, the worst is stored, and the only sure key to it is in our dreams.”
― William Kent Krueger, This Tender Land

…

 Jennifer B.

“I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.”
― Abraham Lincoln

“I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?”
― Alexander Pope

…

From the Internet: NYC 

“For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel
like home.”
― Simon Van Booy, Everything Beautiful Began After

“Don't worry about finding your soul mate. Find yourself.”
― Jason Evert

Susan L - LA at dusk.

“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?” – Wizard of Oz  

…

Mary Kay F, from the Seven Bridges section of a park (I forget which park) in Milwaukee.

Tell me again I need to know. The forest had trees, the meadows were green.
The oceans were blue and birds really flew. Can you swear that it's true?

John Denver “Whose Garden Was This?”

“Hope is never lost more than we are”
― Slaven Vujic

 …

Karen P’s grandson hunting at dawn in Indiana

“What catches your attention can change day to day.
But what catches your attention day after day is what you should pay attention to.”
― Khang Kijarro Nguyen

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Susan L

This is the most powerful photo today. This is a small brush fire that started a few lots over from Susan’s house. She called the fire department, they said they were on their way. She asked if she should do something. They said to defend her house. She went outside and turned on her hose and stood there with it. The fire department arrived right then and put out the fire.

This is in the hills around Los Angeles.

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I now have lots of photos. Thanks!! I have them stored in on-line files and will get to many/most of them in the next few weeks. Please keep sending them! If your photo is something you took in these days we are in right now, let me know.  I love old beauties but I’m also curious what we see in this season.