Week 2 (Love): Light Against the Clouds

All week I’ve been trying to find love in lighting. I’ve taken a lot of pictures. Whenever I would take a picture trying to capture love I would think “Ok, it’s warm. It’s not shadowy. So, I guess it’s what I would put on stage during a romantic scene”. But none of the pictures I took really screamed love to me. They were all me applying ideas of theatrical lighting to the concept of love.

Then one day I was driving home from school. It was Thursday, the day after the rainstorm. I was on my way back home (I don’t live in Irvine so there’s actually trees in my city) looking at the same scenery I’ve been looking at for as long as I can remember.

Then I looked at a pine tree I’ve seen countless times in my life. It was lit by the warm setting sun, against a cool lavender raincloud background.

And it suddenly hit me.

This is love.

I was driving so I didn’t get a picture of the first tree I saw. I pulled over, and with my blinkers on captured a tree that had a similar look. I did this about 4 times on my way home to make sure I captured exactly what I wanted. People probably thought I was some idiot wanting a picture for Instagram. But I had to make sure I didn’t miss it. The setting sun would completely change what I saw.

To me love- whether romantic, familial, or friendship- is being there for someone through hard times. Love is being there for someone when they’ve made bad choices or when you’re angry at them. Love is forgiving someone when they’ve hurt you. Love is showing support for someone no matter the situation, no matter how wrong they are.

In this case, love is a warm ray of light that makes this one tree radiate in the midst of bad weather.

It’s funny because I was searching and searching for what I thought love was, but the moment I saw the   warm tree against the clouds I immediately thought “this is love”. Apparently I think love is standing by someone know matter what they’ve done, who they’ve become, or how hopeless your relationship with them may seem. Love is warmth, but it is also darkness. Without pain and suffering, there cannot be love.