There are some things that a still photo just cannot capture, such as the dance of light filtering through moving trees: what the Japanese call komorebi. It’s one of those words from foreign languages that we end up using in English, because there is no direct equivalent and they are just so useful: words like Schadenfreude (delight at another’s misfortune), culaccino (the mark left on a table by a glass) and sobremesa (conversations after a meal). But komorebi is my favourite. When Instagram introduced its new video feature this summer, I wasn’t sure what I’d use it for (having already tried Lightt and Vine), but looking through my Instagram feed, I realised that all my videos were of komorebi. Like this one, my first Instagram video:

Or this one from an early quiet sunday morning in our music room.

I was totally distracted by the komorebi as I left to pick up Miles from school. Of course, I ended up being late to pick him up, but it was worth it!

And this is a quiet moment in a busy morning at work.

My pursuit of komorebi feels especially poignant as the leaves continue to fall outside and I’m aware that I’m trying to capture it all the more as autumn becomes winter.

What have you ended up using Instagram videos for? What do you wish could be captured by a photograph, but cannot be? Tell us in the comments!

Kirstin