The Light of stars

How does one express the Light from stars? Insipid flecks of hydrogen gas burning bright beyond our dreams.

Riding my bike the other day, lovely warm last day of summer sun flooding down on me, a quiet country road open and empty, inviting wandering thoughts, I thought about Light, the gift of a star.

Earth is of that energy, that Light, to its very core. Deep inside burns all the stuff of stars. Eventually it too needs to be release back into the grand vastness of space.

The forests around me were lit with big leaf maple leaves soaking and radiating Light, giving it back to my eyes as much as fueling the factory of photosynthesis - "Lightwork" if you will.

I thought about this Light, hidden Light, unexpected Light?

I rode further and thought of this image from Lake Natron, in the Great Rift Valley of Tanzania. The bottom of Natron is volcanic rock, where soda minerals meet and dissolve into water. The surface of Natron is under the intense and ever bearing Light of our star - water evaporates at a rate of up to 1,500mm each year, quadruple the replenishing rains. Soda concentrates on Natron's skin and a network of cracks consume the surface. As if Light were releasing skyward.

On Inspiration

"I don't want to declare there are no highways of fruitful directions. In learning there are. Follow them, use them and forget them. Don't park. Highways will get you there, but I tell you, don't ever try to arrive. Arrival is the death of inspiration."
~ Ernst Hass

Walking back, looking forward

Over the past several days, while a bit under-the-weather, sequestered from the world, I have begun my walking with Light, but have begun the journey trying to see more clearly the path I have traveled thus far. Much more than just reviewing my images, I'm extracting from old personal journals and trying to re-experience the events, moments and emotions surrounding portfolios, essays and individual creations. It's an initially daunting journey - I've created well over a hundred thousand edited images - yet it may be the only first walk possible and in the end most critical.