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Loving the World
1 July 2024
We took a little break this morning, stepping out on the patio with a thin little paperback to enjoy a few minutes in the sun on what is forecast to be three days of warm weather in the city.
The World. Nikon D200 with 35mm f2.8 Nikkor (52mm equivalent) at f8, 1/3000 second and ISO 200. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
We didn't get far, though.
The book was Thirst by the poet Mary Oliver from 2006. And the very first line of the very first poem just made us stop:
"My work is loving the world."
We looked up from the page at the world in front of us. We'd turned the chair around so the sun would warm our back instead of redden our cheeks so what we saw was the back of the house with the water pipes and valves and faucet standing on guard next to the back door.
Our job was to love that arrangement, we thought. And it came easily to us. We liked it. It was like a subway map, abstracting out all the twists and curves. But it contained water and controlled its flow.
And just for a laugh, there was some electrical conduit photobombing the composition.
It had to be black and white, we thought, to emphasize the contrast and the texture. The color (a green door) added nothing. And some days you just need to work on a black-and-white image.
So there you have it. Our morning break interrupted by loving what we saw. Which was not hard work.
As Oliver explained, the job "is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished."
Piece of cake.