ENLIGHTEN (word #6)

ENLIGHTEN

Is an "art" word and a "spiritual" word:

A number of years ago, eleven to be exact, I was given the assignment in a black and white film photography class to shoot a picture of "light". This picture of Gary is what I set up, shot and developed (in the darkroom) to turn in for the assignment and for class evaluation. The overall consensus was that this photo is very "contrasty" (no kidding), and that I had a handsome husband (right again)! What I learned: photography is ALL ABOUT "light". You know the saying: " add some light on the subject", or ENLIGHTEN? Well, that is an "art" saying and all about photography.

I LOVE shooting pictures at the beach. I LOVE the various affect the sun can have, depending on the weather and on the time of day and the suns position.

The filtered sun light on this foggy day has such a soft affect on Jonathan, Kristin and Tyler

Add light...and look how everything comes alive! Brilliant colors and a sparkle in the eyes!

On a spiritual note, consider the word "LIGHT" as representing "CHRIST" or "TRUTH",

and "sun" being synonymous with "Son".

(I don't know how to get rid of the underline??? How did this happen? So now that everything is being underlined, I don't know if I should keep posting or stop?

These two pictures were taken at our favorite "wave skiing" beach, "Old Man's" near San Onofre, California. The brightness of the sun has such a dramatic affect on the look of the photo. Look what happens when you add light!

The Arizona Temple can appear as if it has actually changed colors depending on the time of day and the position of the sun. I love the golden warmth from the sun at the end of the day. And yet there is nothing as cool and calming as the lovely soft white granite as the background for a bride and groom so in love and beginning their life together! These pictures I took of

Megan and Steve are great examples of this light.

Then check out Emily on the wake board! Notice the effect that light has on her!

At the beginning of this post I talked about a photography class assignment. These two black and white pictures of the girls and "Grandma Rogers" are some of the other shots I took for that light assignment. On the pictures of their profiles I had them looking right into the setting sun, (which was really hard to develop) there was just too much light on their faces.

When I took these pictures....I had no idea that it would be only a matter of months before my lovely mother in law would suddenly suffer a heart attack and the sun would set on her life here with us forever. I can not begin to express how thankful I was for this class assignment and to have shot these pictures of the girls with their Grandmother. I have good memories of us gathering together to do my "homework". I am reminded of the willingness that my family always had to be my subjects for my class assignments, to humor me, to stand in the light, or look into the light, or whatever I asked them to do, just to help me with school. Ultimately, isn't any kind of education, enlightenment?

Our lives can be enlightened with so many lessons of light and love if we look for it.

One last picture....I just love the many, many sparkles of light in this picture. This photo was snapped outside our window in Laie, Hawaii after a very rainy day. The rain stopped, the clouds rolled away....and suddenly our view of the world just sparkled...all we needed was a little light.