Available Light

No. I am not selling a Jeep Cherokee. However, this picture has some personal significance. A few days ago I promised Alex (my 9 year old) that we would go take some pictures. So today I put a digital point and shoot in his hand. We went to an old park. He likes cars and took several pictures of them. I was impressed that he composed so well. I looked on the view screen and remarked, “You did a good job son.” He said, “I wanted the jeep to fill up the whole picture.”

He then had me pose in front of an old electric commuter train. “Stand there and turn your head to me. Got it!” He really seemed to have a grasp of what to do.

After a while we walked across the parking lot to the train station. He was anxious to take pictures of a bronze horse sculpture. He was terribly interested in the little bronze fly.

He peered up to the big bronze face. He thought it would be funny to get a tail shot. He was terribly disappointed when he missed the mocking bird that was only two feet away.

A camera can bring things out of a person. It can bring out the wonder of world around you. It can exegete the creativity that has been buried. We have photoshop. We have fancy studios. We have our wild imaginations. But nothing can compare with what we find naturally. Nothing beats viewing this world in the available light. Especially when the light comes from the spirit of a child spending a little one on one time with Daddy.

I am convinced that the wonders of this world are there for a reason. I’m not talking about Giza or the Colossus of Rhodes. I’m talking about the fantastic design of a snowflake. I’m talking about the humbling Pacific winds on the Oregon Coast. I’m talking about the breath taking sunsets of West Texas. I am convicted that God Almighty put things on this earth for my personal enjoyment. One of those things is the look on my son’s face as he comes to the same conviction.

A big white hat tip to Mountain Mama.

Like Steve says, God is Good.