We are all aware of traditional pencil and paper art, which adds color from various sources, such as trees, dirt, clay, or what is called earthly elements, to create a “work of art.” But then, somewhere in the early 1800s, someone wanted to experiment in the digital world to create a device to capture images, videos, and/or recordings, which we know today as a camera.
Inventing a tool to perform such a task opened a whole new world of opportunity to capture moments that could possibly be kept for a lifetime and generations. It allows the ability to recall a moment not just in the mind as a memory but to have a tangible eyewitness of that memory caught on paper, whether in color or not.
Just take a step back and think of what life was like before a camera. The traditional artist was called to be able to sit there and sketch out a portrait and/or a moment that someone needed or wanted to visualize. Or a recorder to write out every detail of a business exchange, affair, or desire. Think of all the ways a visual image can be used. From capturing a heartfelt moment to drawing the blueprint to someone’s soon-to-be new home. The art of having a visual image of what is desired to be or what was, is something we do not often think to appreciate because it’s what we do much of today without thinking about it.
The use of a camera to record documents and images to be a witness for later purposes became more than that. What is the ever-so-inspiring thing to do is capture exactly what allowed the camera to come into existence in the first place. Nature’s elements at its finest, but also at its ugliest. To be able to take moments to appreciate the very creations around us is more than inspirational, but a blessing. Something we are always involuntarily aware of we are going to see every day. The sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, the trees, a puddle, rain, falling leaves, winter snow, a stick in the way, to rocks on the ground are all things we do not take into thinking of capturing for pure appreciation for its existence. Because it’s always there. Perhaps we seem to take the consistencies in life for granted more than we like to think and account for because no matter if a cloudy day or cold harsh winter, the sun never fails to come up and down in its time. Every single day, we have light.
The things that come and go and change over time are inconsistencies made by the hands of man, we tend to value and document more than what is always in front of, beside, beneath, and above us; Light and Darkness. So keep in mind why the capturing the origin of creation is so important. Don’t forget, a lens can only capture so much. What’s more, is being in the moment and having nothing but a heart of appreciation for the one above that made it all happen.
