Rainbow ~ Summer 2009

While walking around the Chicago Art Institute gardens the other day I came across this mutli-colored blooming flower. The light was flat but the flower was there and so was I. Sometimes one is not faced with the most ideal conditions for making a photograph. In this case the light was flat and I had no stable base as I was without a tripod. I pumped the ISO up deciding to see what I might get. In the end, I am pleased with the exposure I am posting.

As I was processing this image in Lightroom I was once again reminded of the notion that the external conditions I face (with or without my camera) are not less than ideal or spot on or anything else; they simply are. While living in the infinite NOW I face multiple possibilities, some interesting in themselves while others present themselves as somehow adverse. I must always remind myself that the universe does not conspire against me, rather, it simply is what it is, a random number generator without purpose or remorse. It is up to me to be response-able, to be able to respond positively and ethically to each moment. The more I am able to do this the more comfortable life becomes.

Making photographic images is a constant reminder of this simple idea. When photographing outdoors I am constantly faced with conditions that challenge because of their lack of perfection. The light might be flat or I might wish for more (or any) clouds or that I were somehow able to get closer or further away. What tweaks my interest is just how flexible I can be in responding to conditions less than ideal for an image. This flexibility comes because I have learned to live in the NOW, in a zone of response to what is. I cease to wish for things to be different. I accept and respond. That’s the secret.