Noticing the Light

I came of age before the existence of the internet, you see, and as such, I have certain biases. Pigs sweat, for example. But, alas, I guess not. Hmm... I suppose I need to update my idioms... 

But anyway, it was an overcast and humid day with intermittent rain and I was as uncomfortable as a hot pig. But I had a good feeling about the quality of the soft light, so I took the picture. Leap of faith, you know? Turns out, the light was pretty nice after all.

A stable frame of reference

Thankfully, it appears that the Universe in general has not been perturbed too much by human activity — so far at least. No matter how crazy the weather patterns may be here on the home planet, its movement through space relative to the sun remains pretty stable. I've noticed the angle of the light in the sky has taken on its Fall character — it sure comes on suddenly — and I like the longer shadows and warmer color balance that characterize this time of the year. For me, the end of summer is usually filled with photo-ennui, but Fall is a new season with good light. 

Study the light

I don't know if this little experiment would work as well in new construction, where the houses are often plunked down willy nilly on their lots, but we live in a home from the 1950s that was carefully oriented with respect to the trajectory of the sun. It has definitely been worth the effort to study the movement of good light around the house as the day progresses. In the morning, the laundry room is suffused with warm light which is further softened by the semitransparent window.

This photograph was made using the Voigtlander Bessa TM with a classic vintage Pentax Takumar 105 mm f/2.8 lens. The image pleases me because, while it suggests that the moth might have flown out of the vase, in reality, it is crawling around on the outside of the window while the vase is inside on the sill.