another catch

~ cat caught in the sunlight ~

Caught you

Rays of Light

I walked out onto my back deck this morning to take the laundry down stairs.
I saw the below pattern cast by the railings onto my deck and had to grab my camera.

When I later checked my e-mail, there was a prompt from Light Hunters about finding the rays of light and shadow. Perfect.

Here are four different versions of the same picture, playing around on Picnik.

Noticing

Today's hunt for light was fleeting. The only time I managed to pull out my camera was in the 3 minutes between finishing my lunch and sitting down beneath a pile of small snuggly children to read about whales and the elephant alphabet.
I caught the beautiful clash of clouds, sun, and sky above the trees.

However, this was not the most amazing light find in my day.
For some reason (perhaps out latitude) the sun seems to set very fast this time of year. I was on my bike ride home and I turned onto a street to face west. The sun set was stunning, pinks and oranges, shooting through grey and white clouds. Fabulous.
My camera in my paniers, biking in heavy goin' home time traffic...no time for photos.

Ten minutes later when I got home it was all gone.

Light Hunter

I happen to be sitting on my computer in my bathroom. Silly, I know, but that is where I ended up this evening. I have been sitting here for hours.
The light in my bathroom is from two small bulbs that cast a yellowish light. My bathroom has nooks and crannies and twists and turns (and only one light source) and so right now I am noticing mostly the places where shadows are hiding.

As we descend into fall I become...closer to myself. I want to look into those nooks and crannies, see where the light is. Where it is not. I find that I do better at this self exploration when I have a way to engage myself that is concrete and structured. In that vein I have signed up for yet another of the most fabulous Vivienne workshops. This time around I am joining Light Hunters (2 courses, the first of which runs for a month and then another that runs for 3 months) .

At first it seems like a strange time of year to go light hunting with a camera, but I think it is the perfect time. In the summer there is light everywhere, all the time. In the winter you must search for it. It means more when you find it. Those days when it blasts onto the winter scene are magical. I love the light this time of year. It is softer somehow and yet at the same time more piecing and precious than light found in the summer.

So off I go, hunting for the light...

(a favorite image of winter light, taken last December)