Light and Magic

This photograph was made on a cool October afternoon in Eugene, Oregon, and my wife and I were sitting outside on our porch and listening to the gentle music of the water in our nearby fountain. As we sat there, we enjoyed the calm feeling of the warmth of the sun shining on us through the trees.

My heart felt a quiet joy as I noticed my soft breathing, and I looked around the quiet scene around me. Then I noticed the hummingbirds coming to the sugar water feeder a few paces away from us, with their own iridescence adding to the scene. As he or she departs, the humming of the each bird rapidly beats the air in an invisible blur. It’s all magical, as I sit and take it in.

What is "magical,” now that I think about it? I think it’s something that takes us out of our ordinary frames of mind and awakens us to our sense of wonder. A few weeks ago my wife and I noticed a rainbow spreading across the northern sky, and we went outside to enjoy it. Then, as we continued to gaze at it, we saw a second, more diffuse one arching above the first rainbow. We just stood and took in the dark clouds and bright rainbow before us, absorbed in awe and wonder.

As we continued to gaze at the beauty of the rainbows, I thought of Judy Garland’s song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I just now looked up the lyrics to her song, and it expresses a deep longing to connection what we all, at one time or another, want to feel – a connection with something greater. But isn’t “something greater” almost always present, if we look around us?

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One of the things I like about my iPhone is that it has a high quality camera, and that I can always have it with me in my pocket. Just the awareness that I have it with me makes me more aware of the world around me – Is there an interesting scene or beautiful light that I could notice, and perhaps take a photograph of it that conveys something of the wonder I'm feeling?

As another example, here’s a photograph I took from the window of the plane we were flying to Phoenix in from Eugene. I could see a slight curve in the bright orange light and I realized that I was looking at the shadow of Earth cast by the dawn’s light. What a wonder! I took a number of images, but I like this one the best because the texture and arrangement of the clouds helped make it a more interesting image.

This is the entryway to one of our favorite places to eat breakfast in Sedona – the Briar Patch Inn. We parked our car just to the right of where I took this photo, and as we walked toward the inn I was struck by the gentle light of the dawn coming sideways through the trees. Again, paying attention and having a portable camera help me capture more “everyday” wonders than I would otherwise.

This is Courthouse Butte, a rock formation a short walk from our home in Sedona. It has a very powerful presence to it, and we love to watch how its colors, textures, and shapes shift continually as the sun crosses from the right and moves toward the west.

Are these photos gallery-quality? I don’t think that they depict what many people would like to put on their walls. But I’m thinking of adding a photo gallery to this website so that you can purchase prints of images you want to have in your home or office.

Please feel free to post one of your own favorite photos in the comments area if you have one that you really enjoy and want to share with us!