Color Photography – Page 125 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Christmas 2019, the New Light

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Christmas In A Small Town 121117MR” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article. Unlike most of the photos on my blog it is a mixed reality image because it has been augmented beyond what my eyes actually saw.

I’ve been making reference to the “New Light” over the past several days. As I mentioned a few posts ago my world view encompasses multiple interpretations of what I observe.

The natural view which is a straightforward understanding of the physical world and it’s occurrences.
The philosophical view which is little “life lessons” not of a spiritual nature.
The spiritual view which are things that I think God is trying to teach me.

Sometimes all 3 come to me at once and sometimes they come at odd times. Sometimes there’s only one or two views that present themselves but generally speaking there’s always something to be contemplated. Such is the case with the holidays and the solstice.

I believe that the Gospel of Christ was first written on nature. All of the natural events in our world ( which in my view includes the whole of the physical universe) are foreshadowing the story of Jesus. The world was born in darkness as told in the first 3 verses of the book of Genesis. I equate this with the ages before Jesus and the winter solstice with the night before Christ was born and the creator of the universe inhabited an earthly body to bring us life.

St John 1:4 — St John chapter 1 verse 4 teaches us that Jesus Christ is our light and source of life

We don’t really know for certain what day or season Jesus Christ was born in. There’ good evidence for December based on the details of when the shepherds would have been in the field. But the symbolism of a world in darkness receiving light was the important thing.

When we think about the symbolism of light we generally think about ” enlightenment” relating to a deeper understanding of the deep things concerning God’s nature and ultimate truth. But if you search it out the light of the sun symbolizes God’s grace. Or in other words, the unmerited favor of God. A gift that mankind did not and could not earn but which we desperately needed.

So, to tie it all together. We are celebrating the gift of grace through the coming of Jesus Christ at a time when the symbol of grace is rising higher in the sky. The actual date of His birthday is not as important as recognizing the gift that was given.

Merry Christmas to you and yours from Lloyd’s Lens Photography.

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Tears Of The Rose

Color Photography

The gray sky continued to drizzle rain into the mountains throughout most of the Fall. As I softly tread the wet ground the rose hips catch my eye. The raindrops hang like tiny crystals catching the light of sun.

The longer I looked the more they resembled Christmas decorations. Rose hips were popular winter decor in Victorian times. Especially in rural areas where fine blown glass was not as easy to come by and in a time when plastic decorations were less prevalent if they even existed. ( officially, plastic was invented in 1907 but wasn’t widely used until the 1960s).

Trimming the tree and brightening up the home was a family activity. Instead of a wreath made of plastic pine needles real evergreens were hand crafted fresh every year with the process being a bonding experience. Embellishments often included the bright red berries of roses, harvested nuts and various other fruits. The shared life experience with friends and family was part of the gift and not just the acquisition of stuff.

It comes to mind now that perhaps the droplets that hand so delicately from the red berries are tears. Perhaps the rose misses taking it’s place in the celebration and the families that brought it into their homes for the holidays.

We live in a world where the wonders of technology enables us to do things that our ancestors couldn’t even comprehend. Don’t let it take away from the experience of life. Do things together.

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The New Light 2019

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “First Light” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The darkness lingers in the “hollers” of my Appalachian Mountains as the shadows claw at the landscape and struggle to maintain their grip on the world. But with the first ray of the new light they lose their grip and start to shrink away back into the ether.

The morning sun has awoken at long last and with renewed vigor begins it’s work clearing the darkness from all it surveils. The light doesn’t simply wash over the earth as the darkness does. It pierces through the land breathing life into all of creation.

This wrestling match between the light and the darkness will continue for the next several weeks but nighttime’s fate is sealed. The light has returned.

When I noticed the seedhead of the wild Clematis (AKA Old Man’s Beard) being illuminated by the rising sun I knew that I wanted to save it for tonight’s feature image because the light just seems to fill it. Not shine through it but actually fill it to the point that it almost disappears.

The light really does fill everything it touches. The range of the light that we see is reflected but light is more than just what we see. Those invisible rays are penetrating deep into the seeds making them to be fertile. Just because we don’t really see the light doesn’t mean that it’s not there.

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Winter Solstice 2019

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Nightfall On The Kanawha River 101419” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

Old Sol closes his sleepy eyes and settles behind the mountain for his long rest. The winter solstice has come at last. On December 22nd the sun must begin the long march to his rightful place in the sky. We won’t notice it at first but the light is returning to our world.

Yes, our coldest days of winter are still ahead of us but during those days the shadows will slowly ebb away. I refer to this as “The New Light” and as we draw closer to Christmas Day I’ll go into more detail about what I mean. Like many things in life I draw both natural and spiritual meanings from my observations. (I fully believe that we are spiritual beings having a natural experience)

We all have seasons of darkness in our lives. Times when we feel like the morning sun is taking forever to rise. But it’s the longest darkness that signals the end of the night. And the next night will be shorter.

So how did I celebrate the winter solstice today? With a nap. I laid back in my recliner with my Beagle mix and I rested and restored myself. I have come to the conclusion that often what we think of as a spiritual “long night” is simply fatigue. The modern world places a lot of demands on our lives. Life is energy and fulfilling those ever growing demands takes a lot of energy. Whenever I feel like the darkness is closing in on me I know it’s time to get some rest and let that energy reserve be restored.

So as the darkness passes through my mountains I am rebuilding my own energy and looking forward to the new light to gently return in the weeks ahead.

And speaking of rays of light I do have a favor to ask. One of my blogger friends graciously nominated me a Sunshine Blogger Award. I really don’t participate in those kinds of posts for various reasons but I really do want you to please check out Chocoviv’s Lifestyle Blog which is full of words of encouragement and different product reviews as well as things to make.

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Forage Friday #38 Mistletoe

Christmas, Color Photography, Forage Friday

Mistletoe 113019 — Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image was taken just for Forage Friday. All of the photos are my original work and are available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

While mistletoe is not known to have ever caused human death it is toxic and is likely to make you very sick. I normally wouldn’t include such a plant in a Forage Friday post however it does have a market value as a Christmas decoration could feed you indirectly if you’re crafty enough to collect it and transform it into decor to be sold as such for a profit.

Throughout the Appalachian Mountains the bare branches stand out in contrast to the sky. However, along the Kanawha River some of the trees still have thick green clusters of leaves that seem to form lose spherical shapes in random locations in the trees. In winter this is the tell tale sign of mistletoe.

As stated in the warning above mistletoe has no food value. It is a parasite to the tree that hosts it and often causes deformation of wood. It’s peg like root grows into the cambium layer and diverts nutrients from the branches. The white sticky seeds are toxic except to birds. In fact, the only thing that mistletoe has going for it the culture that’s provided a niche for it to fill.

I have done a little research on the origin of mistletoe as a Christmas tradition and following is a very abbreviated layman’s version of the tradition of kisses under the mistletoe.

Well before that famous kiss between mommy and Santa Claus the mistletoe plant was a symbol of love and benevolence in the Norse cultures. I know that Thor gets all the Press because of Marvel’s Avengers and Stan Lee’s wonderful imagination but back the Baldr ( Sometimes spelled Balder) was the big hero. In the Norse mythology Baldr was a god with a pretty impressive talent. He was invulnerable. So much so that the other gods made a game of testing their weapons on him. However, Loki managed to learn that Baldr’s one weakness was mistletoe and depending on the version of the story struck him with either a dart or an arrow made from mistletoe. Which of course lead to Loki being asked to leave the party in an unceremonious manner. Everyone was bummed out over the death of Baldr including the mistletoe. So the Norse gods struck a deal with mistletoe. ( everything in Norse mythology has a personality) Mistletoe would promise never allow itself to be used as a weapon again ( in spite of the fact that it is a poison) and in return the gods would make it a symbol of love.

Then in 18th century England (and presumably because the myth had gained some resurgence ) a “game” was created where merrymakers were allowed to steal a kiss from any girl caught under the mistletoe. There also seemed to be a rule that for each kiss a white berry was removed from the sprig and once the berries were all gone the kissing game was over.

I have tried to learn how the mistletoe tradition made it into the Christian traditions of Christmas. As the church began to adapt it’s own versions of the pagan holidays many the elements were converted and assigned an alternative myth. However, mistletoe seems to have been more tolerated than adapted and therefore I could no alternate myth.

I did mention that if you’re crafty enough to make a kissing ball that mistletoe might provide a little extra holiday income. I couldn’t find any special instructions for preserving mistletoe however Southern Living magazine recommends harvesting the sprigs with a shotgun. Now I like to shoot guns but I’m going to recommend that you use a pole pruner so as not to have little holes in your decorations. 😉

I did a quick check on Amazon for a mistletoe kissing ball and an 8 inch diameter plastic kissing ball was priced at $12-$15. My gut feeling is that a well made natural mistletoe ornament should be worth at least $25 and there’s plenty of craft shows and farmer’s markets to sell them in.

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