Monday, December 10, 2007

bound by light

Thick darkness blankets the house, except for one night light in the upstairs bathroom. The kids say they have trouble sleeping without it, and I find it to be of practical value, especially if someone doesn't want to step barefooted on something like renegade legos or a lazy dog that sleeps in the middle of any old floor.

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Inside the bathroom, I realize that there is another light source. Glass bricks force light from outside to bend into uniform geometrical patterns. Multiple prisms and the hundreds of diffracted rainbows unlock candy jar. No... a bubblegum machine in my mind's eye.

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Like an addict, I rush to fetch my precious... my camera.

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Glancing over all my freshly downloaded pictures, I realize that I am much more drawn to taking pictures of colors and light, than people and events. Maybe because they are less subjective... universal. Maybe because it is much more challenging and complicated. But light is good, and it conjures memorable quotes.
"Whatever light you then receive should be used to the uttermost, and that immediately. Let there be no delay. Whatever you resolve begin to execute the first moment you can."
-From John Wesley's Notes on the New Testament.

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"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
-Abraham Lincoln

11 comments:

Ted M. Gossard said...

Uh, Craver, the pics aren't coming through on this post, but good quotes.

Yes, when we have light we'd best be living in it now. Or we end up living in a kind of deceptive half-way house in which we think we're home, but really are not. I mean at home as in God through Christ, or more specifically, in the will of God in Christ Jesus.

I can use darkness at the right time, maybe as in the sleep or rest of faith the Lord give us, away from the dizzying, distracting lights of this world, which only end up blinding us to the true Light.

Craver Vii said...

Sorry about the pictures. It's on and off. I don't know why, but when I couldn't get it I clicked to refresh the page and it came up. It's probably because I skipped a step to reduce the files down to a more manageable size.

Martin Stickland said...

There is no stopping you now! You have a gift for spotting the lovely colours that can be spotted all around us.

Well done that man!

PS colours is a bit like the American word colors but a bit longer and not so colourful

Pete Juvinall said...

Welcome to the addiction ;). You ever been up to Cedar Campus Craver? Last year we helped out with an InterVarsity focus week and I ended up taking a camera along and just snapping photos during the retreat of silence.

You may find out it's a wonderful outlet to be creative and worship.

I dig the photos, btw too :). The light is probably my fav of the two.

L.L. Barkat said...

Love the prism-ish one. Looks like a piece of modern art!

Today in the car, my daughter was saying that there's a lot of talk about Light in the bible. I was surprised that this had somehow stood out to her. And pleased, of course.

Llama Momma said...

Admitting you have a problem is the first step, Craver.

david mcmahon said...

Cravermeister,

That is a great shot. I knew I'd turn you into a camera addict.

Good work and continue having fun.

I had a big smile on my face when I saw your comment (on my blog yesterday) that you were releasing pheremones every time you hit the shutter button.

More power to you, my friend ....

Craver Vii said...

Okay, Kids. I reformatted the pictures to smaller files. I hope that takes care of the disappearing art problem

Thank you, Martin. That's high praise from someone as colourful as yourself!

Hey Pete, I've heard of these "retreats of silence." I've never been to Cedar Campus, but that sounds like something I would be interested in doing.

You liked the night light? I wasn't sure whether to even put it up, because of the shadows cast from the outlet's plate.

Mmmm, LL. That's rich. God bless her. How great it is to be reflecting light from the Great Source!

Problem Llama? I don't wanna kick it. I admit that I LOVE IT! :-)

Oops, Mack. Not pheromones, but endorphins. And you definitely are an inspiration. I tried to duplicate your idea with the coffee cup here. Keep teaching; I'll try to keep learning.

Lara said...

Craver- A retreat of silence can be a good thing. Early in our marriage and when the kids were younger my husband and I would take turns taking a Sunday afternoon for a retreat of silence.

The only thing better than a retreat of silence? A retreat of silence at Cedar Campus. I can see how you ended up taking photos up there, Pete. Bet you got some good ones. Craver - you'd be in photography heaven!

Anonymous said...

i can relate to the colour and light thing. the glass brick shot is very cool! i am one of those that stop my car just anywhere, get out and run down the road with my camera to get that shot i just spotted. it started in about march of this year. i admit i am hooked. (i would really have liked to meet abe lincoln.)

oh yeah...my photoblog address, just in case you are really bored some day... http://www.photoblog.com/sunshineand/

Unknown said...

Love the bottom pic...would make a funky quilt. :)