What You Wish For
November 1, 2007
by Jeffrey Pierce
While walking with my camera on Friday last week, I remember thinking that I really wished I could capture a falling leaf on film. If you've never tried to do this, it's amazing how difficult it is to take the photograph.
First, you have to have a falling leaf to photograph. This is no easy feat, but not impossible.
Second, the leaf has to be in the frame. Moving from the naked eye to the camera to capture a small, falling object in a small window of time isn't the easiest task to successfully complete.
Third, you have to be able to focus on it against a background of shifting leaves that are still hanging from the tree's branches. It's possible, but almost immediately rules out using the camera's autofocus when you're trying to capture the leaf before it hits the ground.
And while I felt myself unintentionally hope for the outcome of a falling leaf on film with the same focus with which I work a magickal rite, nothing manifested during the time I was outside on this day.
I have Monday's off from work (I work four ten-hour shifts), so Tuesday was the first day I was back under the trees outside of our office. There, right where I'd wished to capture a falling leaf, was one hanging suspended from a single strand of spider's web.
A falling leaf hangs suspended from a single strand of spider's web.
It was a nice reminder that not only is magick possible, but that we truly do manifest the reality we experience. It wasn't exactly how I pictured the event unfolding, but it was exactly the result that I had hoped to achieve.