The Light that Persists
Many of these photographs only exist at certain hours of the day or of the year or decade. The magnolias quickly bloom, exploding with bright pink, but upon recognizing their arrival, they leave. Withering away and falling to the ground as quickly as they arrived. The solar eclipse passed over us, for just a couple of minutes the world was still; all light changed from how we know it, with our greatest light source hidden behind the moon.
This book ignites a passion to discover the hiddenbeauty in our world that requires patience and knowing where to look. Finding the magic of how light impacts the world and makes the ordinary... extraordinary.
The photos are of light’s interactions with the physical world. Going out at different hours allowed for me to capture all sorts of light: sunsets, moonlight and artificial light from a lamppost. Photography is an adventure; with just a camera at our side we are in search of something hidden, explorers searching for treasure. My treasure is discovering alternate realities of everyday scenes, when the light hits just right at certain hours, a complete transformation occurs and it’s possible to capture real life magic.
Night is a subject of many of these photos, because our world changes visually overnight. The bright and colorful world turns muddy and grim without the sun’s illumination. In looking for light, I discovered many of these photos, light interacting with plants and structures shaping them to be unrecognizable from their typical forms during the day.
“It is light that reveals, light that obscures, light that communicates. It is light I “listen” to. The light late in the day has a distinct quality, as it fades toward the darkness of evening. After sunset there is a gentle leaving of the light, the air begins to still, and a quiet descends. I see magic in the quiet light of dusk. I feel quiet, yet intense energy in the natural elements of our habitat. A sense of magic prevails. A sense of mystery. It is a time for contemplation, for listening—a time for making photographs.”
– John Sexton