"Aziz! Light!"

“The Fifth Element” fans will recognize that line, as it appears at the very beginning of the movie. The priest is trying to read something in a cave, and needs his assistant to hold the torch so that he may see. The assistant keeps moving away, for various reasons, and the priest will yell, “Aziz! Light!” Each subsequent yell gets a little more gruff and desperate.

I identify with that priest. I am definitely a light lover. I need it, much like a flower needs the light of the sun. When we had a power outage that lasted for a week, I found that I simply could not function in the evenings because we didn’t have the supply of light that I was used to. We finally found that by shining one of the lamps that we had hooked up to the generator into the corner of the room, we could bounce enough light off of the white walls to satisfy my needs and keep me from freaking out.

We used to live in a house that had narrow windows, dark paneling, and no overhead lights. The first thing that I did when we moved in was to take down the heavy draperies and replace them with blinds. I could open them wide so that the sun would come into the room. We eventually got rid of the dark paneling, and added as many lights as possible to the room. It helped, but was never quite enough. I always felt like yelling, ‘Aziz! LIGHT!’

When we were looking for a new home, I wasn’t sure that we would ever find one that felt right. My husband actually found the home that we eventually bought. It wasn’t much to look at on the outside, but had four bedrooms. Our agent took us inside and I was not into the house more than 5 feet when I decided that this was the one. It was perfect! In so many ways…but most of all, because it was LIGHT. There are skylights, big windows, and a sliding glass door in the high ceilinged family room. Sunlight would literally stream in through the skylights in the afternoon. I knew that I had found home.
Light makes everything better. It allows us to see clearly. It illuminates the dark places, so that we may plainly see what we are dealing with.

The past few days have been sunny here…finally! We have had rain, rain, rain and lots of gray. So when the sun broke through, we threw open the blinds and opened the doors. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the back yard. It is nothing short of glorious!

It’s also been perfect for photographs. Light makes everything more vivid. It gives us depth and texture. Without a proper amount of light, everything seems flat and dull. I’ve taken more pictures in the last few days than I have in weeks – pictures of the blooming rhododendrons in our yard. Pictures of the light dappling through the trees. Pictures of the kids playing catch. Pictures of the dog trying to play catch. Pictures of the baby with sunlight lighting up his blonde hair like a halo. Pictures of glowing, radiant flowers. Pictures like the tree that so fascinates me.



The old snag becomes something else entirely in the late afternoon light. The colors are rich and warm, the shadows cast by it’s branches are fascinating. Set off by the brilliant blue of the evening sky, it is spectacular. (that was for you, mh!)

Photography is all about light. Get it right, and you have a stunning photograph. Get it wrong, and either you cannot capture the image that you see before you, or it becomes washed out and featureless. The sun is perfect light.

The Son is perfect light. I could go on and on with that analogy, and probably will in subsequent posts.

Today, I am thankful for the light, more than ever. I am thankful for color in my world. I am thankful for depth, for texture, and for illumination.

Good job, Aziz!