When Spirit stands still

Renowned photographer Minor White is reputed to have said, "Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer it has chosen."  Somehow, reading that this morning, I thought of this tree which I photographed in Seattle yesterday while my husband struggled with a parking meter.

I had taken one photo, but the lines and angles were all wrong, and so I was busily re-composing the shot while hoping the meter would keep him busy just a little longer, long enough to get the shot I wanted before we walked off to the restaurant.


Silly, really -- it's not like the light -- or even the subject -- is anything special.  It's not like any of the ingredients of this photo are going to move; if I were to come back a week later and photograph again, I doubt there would be any difference.  I could have photographed it after lunch as easily as before lunch.  But something in me was determined to capture this image at this time, and was really quite stubborn about its insistence.  And I've learned not to argue with that instinct, or even to try to reason with it; I just try to remember to pay attention and follow its directions as best I can.  Because when I do, for that moment, I am one with the camera, and the tree, with the colors and the buildings, and the slowly disintegrating wall.  And something in me soars with delight.