Monday, October 16, 2006

Morning on the front porch


While fetching the paper at breakfast last week, I decided I liked the gentle pinkish hue of the morning sky. I fetched the camera and quickly grabbed the moment before it disappeared. I didn't want to even bother setting up the tripod. I just sat down on the front stairs, braced my arms as best I could, and gently squeezed off the shot.

There isn't anything earth-shattering about the composition, but sometimes photography is more about remembering a point in time than achieving the pinnacle of artistic excellence. Or something like that.

Your turn: I hope you'll share a fleeting moment in a comment. Even better, I hope you'll keep this entry in mind the next time one of these moments presents itself to you.

13 comments:

~A~ said...

Fleeting moments is the whole reason why I decided to pay a little extra and get the new sony ericsson. 2 megapixels is not close to what I have to my camera but it's not always practical to carry my camera and juggle 4 kids when we're out and about. At least I'll have no more moments when I think, "damn, if I only had my camera."

Anonymous said...

I have those fleeting moments often. My husband on the otherhand seems to think that any picture worth taking has to be an artistic adventure which totally lets the moment pass by, the scene changes, the light changes, the object is gone, gone, gone.

I scream out...when will you ever learn to relax and just take a darn snapshot?

He never answers.

I like your off the knee, elbows braced snap shot and I don't care what anyone says!

By the way, thanks for lending me reason to vent about a subject very close to me! lol!

Anonymous said...

You certainly have a way with a camera... no doubt about that. A recent memorable fleeting moment was when I was tubing behind a speedboat in Hong Kong with my five year old, Sebastian. For just a few seconds, as I hung on for dear life and Seb screamed in delight, there was not a care in the world.

Thumper said...

Wow...I love this picture. I look at it and wonder how many birds are hiding in the trees, and what it will look like if someone makes them all suddenly take flight, and what the sound of all of them would be like. Just the flaping of 100s of wings? A cacophony of little bird voices all screaming "What the heck just happened!!??" Eery silence...?

Kara said...

I have a photo of my son when he was about 16months old. He is sitting on a hill in our yard, surrounded by dandelions, his small back to me, watching cars pass by our chainlink fence. It is one of my favorite pictures. A moment captured that takes me back instantly to that place. Back to his innocence.
Sometimes photo's can be the most powerful things on earth, if only to you.

Uisce said...

nothing earth shattering? you are too modest. what a beautiful picture

keda said...

yes. so beautiful.

so many. everyday fleeting moments with children i find. last night lightning in the sky and us all standing in our underwear, leg warmers and blankets on the balcony springs to mind :)

or stepping out into a huge puddle with sandals and tights (not me the kids!)as we left a friends late in the dark evening, after a storm brewed while we were inside. and sitting dripping in the taxi. no camera of mine could capture it... so my internal one will have to do once again.

Karen said...

Carmi, several times a day I take my dog out in the backyard to, well, that's not important. But I often look up in the sky. At night, if it's quiet and not raining, the view is spectacular. I also say a little prayer of thanks.

Again, a lovely photo. Here sort of via Michele's.

Shephard said...

I know what you mean about photos sometimes being about capturing moments... I'll even keep pix that are slightly blurred because of that.

That photo... the colors behind the trees, wow. That would make an excellent Halloween image. :)

A fleeting moment... when we were in Venice, exploring where the real Venetians live... we saw through a wrought-iron fence... a gondolieri's costume (stripey shirt, etc) hanging on the line with other wash. I snapped the photo, a *real* slice of Venice.

~S

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! My favorite photos are those snapped when I least expected to take a shot -- one of my son at three months old comes to mind almost immediately. My apologies -- I've been out of the loop for awhile and am only now getting back to catch up. Looks like you took some remarkable shots for me to enjoy. I think I'll look around for a while.

Sandy said...

As a parent, I think most moments are fleeting. It sounds so trite, but they do grow so fast. Every milestone. Every smirk. Every light bulb moment. Every art project gone awry. It's all fleeting and all precious.

By the way, thanks for sharing another beautiful photo. I could sit here for hours just staring at your gift for capturing moments.

David Edward said...

I am doing a "what would carmi shoot?" post today - and adding you to my side bar.

aside: " hey susan, get your own camera! hehe"

NotSoccer Mom said...

i had a moment like that this morning that i caught on camera. my son and our cat sleeping together on my bed!

here via barbie2be.