Thursday, November 27, 2008

Eden is a Place: Light 2: Artificial Light

In a previous post I mention that I prefer natural light to artificial light when I am
taking a photo and that this is why I am attracted to photographing windows in
particular for their simbolism and function. I have found myself, however, fascinated
with 'moments' of artificial light. It seems that the contrasting quality of artificial light
- the clear contrast it can form with night - draws in my camera's lens.


Here are a few 'moments' of artificial light:

"Night Spirits "

- From an Asado that we had last New Year's Eve. I really like the play of
the quality of the image of the smoke with that of the hand. The shadows
within the smoke itself also creates an interesting image reflection.

"Night-Tanning"

- John trying to recover from a high bilirubin count. The strangeness of having
this artificial sun inside our home never really went away. Despite the
level of anxiety that such a device can cause a newborn-baby'sparents,
John seemed to really enjoy it. Needless to say that Lili was quite curious
about the sun-in-a-suitcase. I like the odd blue hue of this photo.

"Breakfast Under the Cover of Morning"

- In our last apartment in Provo I had to be very careful not to make noise or turn
on too many lights in the morning when I would eat breakfast because the kids'
room was adjacent to the kitchen. If I were to wake-up the children too early,
Priscila's entire day could be thrown off. The hyper-care I took to not make
too much sound or shed too much light caused me to enter into a faux solemnity.
For some reason I also becamevery attuned to the smallest details of light,
of sound, and even of smell. In any case, I would often turn only the oven
light on and my lonely tea pot would appear as if it were an idol on an altar
to the "god of solemn breakfasts."

Monday, November 17, 2008

Eden is a Place: Poetic Intertext 1: "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"
by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
so dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Nothing Gold Can Stay:

Priscila and Sam

Lili
John
Convergence of Nature

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Lili: The Decided Voter


Priscila: "¿Lili, quién querés que gane? ¿Obama o McCain?
Lili: "Quiero helado."

[Priscila: "Lili, who do you want to win? Obama or McCain?"
Lili: "I want ice cream"]