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For my first post, I used photography to study light as I see it in my daily life. I wanted to document my experience as I lived through this light. While the photos included here depict light as it shed itself on my quotidian experiences (on my way to class, while studying, while eating breakfast), I felt a certain effervescence that I hadn’t noticed prior to committing to this exercise of seeing the light. The light was so beautiful when I looked closer, and I felt a certain materialism in my attempt to capture it: this was meant to be temporary, a passing moment intended solely for that small space in time. The pictures, as always, could never capture the fullness of this light, but I processed them such that I increased the contrast and lowered the exposure so that the light stands out. I realized in doing this how symbolic that act is, to heighten the light. It is a choice one makes, to see the light. I made it twice: the first when I chose to see it, the second when I chose to capture it and then render it.
Of course, I am unendingly inspired by verse 35 of Surat al-Nur:
TRANSLATION: Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.