What Do You See?

What do you see?  Do you see an old man?  Of course you do, for that is what he is, an old man nearing the end of his journey.  He sleeps most of the time, rarely talks, doesn't remember much.  And that, if you don't know him, is all you can see when you look at these photographs.  That is the limitation of photography and, in fact, a limitation of our eyes.  We can only capture what is visible in that moment in time; we don't see the broad spectrum of what makes that person who he is; we don't see the rich and varied history of his life.

You see an old man. I see my father.  You see white hair, age spots and wrinkles.  I see the gentle, good-humored, kind and dependable man who helped raise me.  You see his current uselessness, while I see a gymnast, a musician, a band teacher, a fisherman, a handyman, a fellow who worked hard, dressed like Mister Rogers and was lovingly faithful to his wife.  You see a man who no longer interacts with his world; I see someone who read to his children, took them on endless camping trips, went swimming with them often every summer, told funny stories, whose knees creaked as he came running up the stairs at night saying, "you kids settle down up there!" and who much later quietly grieved the loss of his oldest daughter.   And even what I see isn't all there is to the man.  Think what his wife and parents could tell, what they could add to our understanding of his life.  Yet with all of that, our picture still isn't complete, for only God knows the deepest parts of a man's soul.

What do you see?  What can any of us really see?  Pray that the God Who Really Sees would open our eyes and give us compassion for those who can no longer tell us who they are.  

Me in my Dad's lap

More Light

When you can't understand "The Idiot's Guide to..." you know you're in trouble.  Such was the case when I started reading photography books, including the Idiot's Guide.  I realized early on that I didn't care about the mechanics of how digital photography works, the acronyms (CCD! SR! RGB!) and all their environs.  I started to skip those chapters in the hopes of finding useful information further on, but was dismayed to find out that in order to get the most out of my camera, I had to disengage the autopilot and engage my brain to make all sorts of decisions.  Is it good for me?  Of course!  Has it been a road filled with error, confusion and frustration?  Absolutely.  I kept large note cards beside me while I read and jotted down all sorts of information that I promptly forgot.  I'm not one of those people who learns by reading; I learn by doing.  Now that I'm older, real learning only takes place when I do it A LOT.  Nevertheless, there have been small triumphs along the way.

Recently I was visiting my mom and dad at the nursing home where my dad lives.  There was a  flower in a vase by the window that caught my eye.  I took the photo  and of course the light coming in behind the vase obscured the flower in darkness - not a bad effect, but not what I was looking for.

As I pondered this business of the light, some dim memory began to surface about different options with light metering.  Didn't I read something about that 2 years ago when I was making all those notes?  Spot metering?  I managed to find it on the menu (no small feat - it's a jungle in there!), changed the setting and took another photo.  Amazing difference!

Although there's almost too much light in this photograph, my usual cry is "more light! more light!"  I crave light.  Even in the winter when opening the drapes means letting in more cold, I don't hesitate.  I have to have it.   My soul craves it as well; my cry to Jesus is "more light! more light!"   Psalm 36:9 says

"For with You is the fountain of life; 

     In Your light we see light."

There you have it.  More light must come from the Source of light and life.  It is He who opens up the aperture, who spreads wide the drapes that darken our souls.  Hallelujah!

Imagination

Imagination allows us to pick up a weirdly shaped yellow pepper and "see" a pirate lurking in it.   In this case, Sam's imagination prompted him to make his idea a reality by adding the right props, as you can see.  

Vegetables actually provide a lot of "scope for the imagination," to quote Anne with an "e."   When I was cleaning our potatoes, I found one that was the spittin' image of a bare hiney.  Now why didn't I get a picture of that?  Probably a subconscious sense of modesty kept me from making a permanent record.   However, I did get a picture of these carroty friends sharing a sweet embrace (I can almost imagine that it is a joyful reunion after a long separation, or perhaps a last hug before one has to leave the other for an extended time).

I propose this definition:  Imagination is a function of creation: it is the means by which we create new ideas, for better or for worse, from that which we see and know in the real world.  Why on earth did God give us imaginations?  For certainly imagination has its dark side as well - those of you who have imagined fearful and dark things in the future, or who have created harmful fantasy images know of which I speak.  As far as I know, the Bible doesn't say much about our imaginations...or does it?  It is said "...we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," and Paul's injunction to the Philippians is to let their minds dwell on those things which are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent or worthy of praise.  Thinking creatures must imagine.  Our imaginations will either be sanctified or sullied; true or tainted; whimsical or warped.   Thank God for your imagination and then ask Him to make it like His.   He came to make all things new.

Touching Up and Glorifying

There are all sorts of great photo editing programs out there, some of which are free and available to schmucks like me.  I struggle sometimes with the ethics of changing a photo, altering it so that it takes on colors, vibrancy, softness, etc. that aren't original to the photo.  I guess it's not an ethical violation unless I am selling the photo with the claim that it is unedited.   Moral dilemma solved!  Let's proceed.

Here are a couple before and after photos to demonstrate what can be done with a little computer sleight of hand.

I can't help but like the second one better.  Look how the blue jumps out at you!  The contrast between the egg and the pine needles is startling and eye catching.  Yet I have to admit, the top photo more accurately reflects what I saw, even though it seems like a pale foreshadowing of what it was meant to be.

Pretty much the same thing was done with this photo (which was taken by Ruth, by the way).  I bumped up the saturation so that the color of the leaves nearly burns against the cool, dark water.  Now is this falsifying or glorifying the photograph?   The Bible says that woman is the glory of the man, meaning that she takes what he does and makes it better, fills it out or adds to it.   It doesn't seem right to take a photo of what God created and then "glorify" it, as if He didn't make the world glorious enough.  But I like to think that perhaps what we see here on earth is but a pale shadow of what He has in store for us, the unedited photo, as it were.   When we see Him face to face, we'll see the glorified Jesus, the saturated God-Man.  Maybe even the leaves will seem like they are on fire.

Mr. Shiny

Someone spotted this little fella by the back door one night.  Normally I don't get too excited about frogs; I'd rather that they stay in their world and I in mine.  However, this one was (warning: I'm about to say a very girly thing) -- as I was saying, this one was SO CUTE!   There it sat with its shiny green jacket on, clinging vertically to the wood in a way that illustrated its Creator's design.   I mean, look at those grippers!  Just by looking at the thing you can tell that it's doing just what it was made to do.  I admire that.  Would that people could say the same thing by looking at me.

Warning Part 2: boring camera details ahead.  Veer left!
Back to Mr. Shiny (much preferred over the name Mr. Slimy, I think).  I spent quite a bit of time fussing over the photos and could be heard mumbling things like "too dark.. "  "too bright..."  "blurry!"  "Way too blurry!"   Really, it's amazing that Mr. Shiny didn't just exit, stage left.  It's surprisingly difficult to get the camera to see just what I see.  Or maybe what I should say is that my mind makes all sorts of adjustments for the lighting so I see what I want to see; the camera tells the truth.   I wonder if that's why it's so easy to overlook sin in my life?  The heart is more deceitful than all else...  The camera of God's word is unsparing; if there's something hidden in the dark, He will illumine it.   And that, my friend, is a good thing.

In the end I dialed back the flash quite a bit and was reasonably happy with the results which you see here, although I'm not expecting calls from National Geographic any time soon.

Dying Beauty

There's nothing about the other seasons that makes me catch my breath with awe like the sight of a tree blazing with autumn color.   In the normal course of things, aging is ugly.  Plants shrivel and become colorless, humans do the same.  Dying isn't so pretty either, whether it be a violent, blood-soaked death, an agonizingly long and  painful one or even an old wrinkled one preceded by loss of youth and vitality .  Yet here we have leaves which have a glory-filled exit, leaves that fling themselves off the tree in a vivid riot of color.   Is there anyone besides God who can make dying things beautiful, who can take the brutal ugliness of death and transform it into a glorious victory?  Here's how Corrie Ten Boom described her sister Betsie right after she died in a concentration camp during World War II:

"For there lay Betsie, her eyes closed as if in sleep, her face full and young.  The care lines, the grief lines, the deep hollows of hunger and disease were simply gone.  In front of me was the Betsie of Haarlem, happy and at peace.  Stronger!  Freer!  This was the Betsie of heaven, bursting with joy and health.  Even her hair was graciously in place as if an angel had ministered to her."

It is a mystery, the mystery of Christ our Champion over Death.

They say aging isn't for wimps.  Don't I know it.  I don't like pain.  I don't like growing in weakness and frailty.  I don't like knowing my brain cells are leaving en masse.  I don't even like the weirdly surreal world in which what I hear and what was actually said are not even mildly related.  I'll be frank: I fear dying.  Yet, autumn  reminds me that God can make dying beautiful.  "Though the outer man is decaying, yet the inner man is renewed day by day."  When I go, may I go out with a blaze of color and with the graceful abandon of the autumn leaf.

Dragonfly

There are few winners of beauty contests in the insect world, but the dragonfly is right up there on stage, definitely about to get the Miss Insect crown on her head.  Surely the squat, ugly and shrill cicadas must be a wee bit jealous when one of these beauties flies by.  The dragonfly is naturally slim, arrayed in elegant and dazzling clothing, has the grace to move quietly around in her little world, and takes care to be seen on only the most lovely flowers.  She's got my vote!   (and yes, I do know that some dragonflies are males.)