Savor

I didn't get to make any serious images this week.  I had four uninterrupted days with my boys and there just wasn't time to sneak away to focus on composition, camera settings and find the sweet light that comes at sunrise or sunset.  Instead, we had a great time enjoying the new snowfall.  As I often do, I grabbed my camera and made a bunch of still images and video clips of the kids taking daredevil runs on their snowboards and breaking in the new banked-corner sled run we built.

Tonight I came home to a quiet house.   I put on a TEDxTalk by Chris Orwig to watch while I zoned through a work out.  Chris is an inspiring photographer and educator from California.  The talk is titled "Finding the Magnificent in the Mundane".  I had seen it before, but I thought I'd watch again.

It's funny how things come together.  About a third of the way through his presentation, Chris engages a theme that runs through a lot of his work.  He typically quotes French photographer Marc Riboud in this regard... " Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second."

In this presentation, he doesn't quote Riboud, but talks about how the camera is somehow about savoring life by slowing or stopping moments that otherwise would slip away.    He illustrates the point with a striking image he made underwater in a pool.   His young daughter's impeccable blue eyes and closed mouth smile are engaging and it's a beautiful photograph by any measurement.

And then I realized... I did make serious images this week.  Thank you boys!  Thank you Chris Orwig.