Photo by Rachel Welch
As Rachel and I strolled through Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, she stopped before an arch carved in a high hedge. Ivy, shadowed by palm trees, surrounded the dirt walkway leading through it. She exclaimed that the scene was perfect for photos. Smiling at her delight, I asked her to explain why.
She responded that she didn’t know.
Photographer Rachel Welch possesses an ability to see beauty in the world that comes so naturally that she isn’t able to explain to others the elements that make for perfect scenes. It strikes me that she doesn’t look for preconceived ideas of beauty; she waits for beauty to find her.
I have heard that photography involves capturing the interplay of light and shadow. The photo above gives evidence to this. Rachel sought to capture a joyful moment in the lives of two (three!) people. I think she is able to do this well because she also knows the dark sides of life. Her heart, and therefore her eyes, have been trained, as her mission statement reads, to “capture God’s faithfulness in everyday life.”
Rachel knows both great joy and great sorrow. Not only her own, but the joys and sorrows of others. Rarely have I met someone so in tune with the brokenness of the world and the goodness of God. In conversations with her, both joy and sorrow bring tears to her eyes in such a way that I cannot tell from which spring the tears flow.
The light of joy here on earth shines bright because it is always tinged with the shadow of sadness. Joy surprises us and finds us when we least expect it, if we let go of our preconceived ideas of what it is.
For her, joy is far different from happiness. Joy is deep enough to encompass pain, just as the light in her photos is rich enough to encompass shadow. In fact, you see the light more clearly because of the shadow, just as you know joy more deeply because of sorrow. Sometimes, though, it takes a keen eye and heart to help us see the contrast well.
Thank you, friend, for helping us see God’s faithfulness clearly even when the world seems shadowed with sorrow.
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