Natural light

We visited Midway's annual Creche Display at the precise moment the sun streamed in through the window and lit this stunning crystal nativity. December 3.

As a general rule I don't like to use a flash when I take pictures. Sure, it can be helpful, especially in low-light or back-lit scenes, such as making the difference between the two photos of James.

Most of the time, though, I like the challenge of using ambient light to capture images. And I really like taking pictures at Temple Square.

We went there on Wednesday, Dec. 28, our 18th wedding anniversary. Jeff, having already seen the lit square at the start and finish of each work day for a month, could have justifiably balked when he came home and I suggested we go right back. Especially with the kids in tow. I think a quiet restaurant meal was more what Jeff had in mind. But I found a sweet significance in sharing the day and the site of our wedding with our children. 

Here's the obligatory group shot, taken with a flash. Red eyes and everything.

Aside from cropping out a random little girl in James' shots above, all the pictures here are straight out of the camera. All those that follow were taken without flash. 

Samuel took the second photo of the Christus. And if you've seen the size of our camera, you appreciate the effort it took for him to point it upwards. I dig the composition!

I show you all these pictures exactly as the camera recorded them for a reason. Today in Sunday School the teacher used a lesson on gold-mining to introduce this year's focus of study, the Book of Mormon. With a quiet power the teacher stated that if our goal was merely to read the book by year's end -- just to say we'd done so -- we would fail. 

A higher goal, he said, is to study the scriptures more painstakingly, more deliberately, more prayerfully -- more slowly -- than ever before so we don't miss the treasures within.

I return to my pictures. I had not looked through them until after church today, which experiences provided a new lens. 

I took two looking up at the Angel Moroni through a tree. According to my camera's specs my shutter speed was 1/60th of a second for the first.

But look at the brilliance of the second one in the exact same spot, all because I opened the shutter longer (1/10th of a second).

I look forward to a year of committed scripture study, the kind where I can be still long enough to soak up more of God's light.