Most of my weeks are busy, with work, working out, household stuff, and more. I hardly remember how, before COVID-19, I also had a social life. Where did I find the time? So, on Saturday’s I try to combine getting weekend chores done with slowing down and relaxing.
This week Saturday morning, I had morning coffee–several double espressos–outside. It was “brisk” outside, as my mother used to say. Cold, but not so cold as to keep you from doing stuff. The doing in this case was drinking coffee and drinking in what I could see around me.
The leaves from the vines on the trellis beside me caught my attention. So I went and grabbed a camera and sat some more, taking a few images. The first one you see, on the left, I took using a macro lens poked through the trellis at the tangle of leaves on the other side. The second was of leaves on my side of the trellis.
On one of my trips back into the house for more coffee, my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine caught my eye as more than a source of tasty liquid. And still later, inside the house, after finishing my last coffee of the day, the empty cup caught the corner of my eye.
My morning of images and coffee reminded me that slowing down and noticing and being curious with what’s right there around you, whether you have a camera handy or not, is the key to seeing. Exotic places, or scenic places, are not necessary. Even planning and scouting are not strictly necessary, though they help, especially if your patient. It’s the seeing.
Next week, perhaps, I’ll go back to planning and scouting some rephotography. That requires research and planning. But I’ll also try to remember to get beyond rephotographing and feeling like I’m done–“Got what I need”–and see what else I notice.
Categories: Grand Rapids, Weekly Image
No Ordinary Light 
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