Today’s prompt: Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?
I think my response to about half the prompts so far in Reverb 10 has been “my camera.” I’ll just keep things simple and go with that again today. Chase Jarvis has this book called The Best Camera is the One That’s With You. I just discovered that phrase this week. I plan to attempt a 365 project for 2011. I’m sure I’ll have to rely heavily on the philosophy to see me through.
I also suspect that the best moment of joy is the one that’s with you too. That’s why I want to say that my ordinary joy is just the day I had today. Today was the day after a big family holiday dinner. It was calm and uneventful–as opposed to the chaos and excitement and even at times trauma of the past week.
My mother got a couple of digital photo frames for Christmas. I spent some time helping her set them up. My mother and I chatted and sorted through pictures of her great-grandchildren in the process. We didn’t always know exactly what we were doing, but we got the job done in the end. A good time had by all.
She also got an orchid for Christmas. I’m sure most of the family looked at it and thought “how pretty.” I looked at it and thought “hey, there’s an opportunity to try that shot I’ve been wanting to try.”
And here it is. The old flower in the dark trick.
This picture is a moment of ordinary joy for me because it gave me pleasure to take it, and it gave me pleasure to see how it came out. I’m a beginner in the DSLR world. I have a simple little entry-level Canon T1i. I’m sure a professional could do a better job. I hope that in six months I’ll be able to do a better job. But this particular picture taken today with my humble camera and the kit lens it came with (and an old brown blanket draped over my mother’s china cabinet as a backdrop) represents the best job I could do today. That’s my ordinary joy.
