I’m challenging my pride. That’s the goal this week. In all areas of my life where it dwells, I am shining the light.
Allison Caviness
Take your time…or someone else will.
Filed under Light …
Wake up, take a meteor shower
It’s been a long day. I woke up at 2:30am in Tallahassee, Florida. We drove about a half hour out to a friend’s 10 acres in the country. We laid our blankets down on the open grassy field and looked up. Between 4:30 – 5am was the height of it – an incredible light show in the sky. The annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Away from city lights. Though the moon was bright, it was well, well worth the morning plight. Stars just zooming across the sky. We even saw a big, bright one that left a blueish streak in its speedy path.
Today, August 12th was the peak day for viewing. Today would have also been the 89th birthday of my darling Grandpa. What a perfect way to celebrate.
Went back home. Slept a wink. Got back up. Packed. Flew. Delayed. Flew again. Home now. Unwinding. Getting ready for tomorrow…it’s a new day!
Officially the Awesomest Point and Shoot Camera
You snap a digital photo. 12.1 Megapixels. Standard of the day. And then, right from your handy camera apparatus, you can PROJECT your images onto any nearby surface. Amazing, no? It’s the Nikon CoolPix S70, to release in September ’09 at $249.99. Digital cameras are stepping their instant gratification game up. First Polaroid steps into the digital age, now this? I’m about to become a junkie. Or, maybe I’ll just wait a decade or so for the hologram projecting camera phones that you’ve seen in the movies. Yeah…
Hiro Yamagata: St. Petersburg 2011 – I’m There
Hiro Yamagata. He is the only artist I have actually traveled any great distance just to experience the wonder that is his work. Anybody who knows me knows that he and Paul Friedlander are two of my favorite light artists. Shoot, two of my favorite artists period. I once dragged my mother from Queens, NY on a roadtrip to Columbus, Ohio to experience Hiro Yamagata’s exhibition at the Wexner Contemporary Arts Center (don’t sleep – this is one of the most advanced centers for arts and science in our country).
Hiro is my Hero. He creates light art – installations of art based on natural phenomena that we normally cannot see with our human eyes. When in Columbus, I let his work take me to the cosmos and to the ultraviolet realm. He makes seen the unseen, but felt. There’s a strange nostalgia I have for his work. I’ve decided to make it a mission to follow his work.
Next trip: The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, 2011. I’m so excited I can barely contain myself.
And here’s the concept for the St. Petersburg Installation…in the artists’ words:
Volcanic Sunset Expected TONIGHT
VOLCANIC SUNSETS: The Russian volcano that erupted directly beneath the International Space Station on June 12th is now causing beautiful lavender sunsets across parts of the northern USA and Europe. A plume of ash and sulfur dioxide from the Sarychev Peak eruption is circulating through the stratosphere, and when parts of the plume pass over an area at sunset, the sky fills with delicate white ripples, sometimes-colorful streamers, and a telltale hue of purple. Find out more at spaceweather.com
There was a beautiful volcanic sunset last week, the day after Michael died. Another one is expected tonight, so be sure to get out and observe the beauty…
Light
A supernovva 6000 light years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. Smithsonian Flickr Commons.
“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don’t worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest” -Unknown
“Love is not consolation. It is light.” -Nietzsche
“Love is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth at the heart of creation” -Tagore
“Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?” -Maurice Freehill
[Paraphrasing] “I do miss her, but wherever I see light, she is there” -Carlos Santana speaking of his ex-wife to Tavis Smiley
I noticed yesterday that my adorable niece Renee (one month old) loves staring with wonder into the light, or on white surfaces that reflect light brilliantly. She looks around at these images of light, as though there is much more that she can see, that I cannot see. I wonder if she’s able to see spirits…ancestors looking down. I imagined she was looking at my grandfather…or perhaps my grandmother after whom she was named.
There are so many notable quotes and understandings on the meaning of light. Truth. Love. Eternity. Consciousness. Beauty. God.
When we see the light, when we feel the light within, it is undeniable, gracious, powerful and enlightened. I think I need to go up to my rooftop and meditate on that for a bit….
