And when he recognized the steady replacement of steam by petroleum products was going to put an end to them, O'Connor felt an urgency to capture those behemoths on film, before they vanished into history. And of course, he wanted to capture them in motion.
There was just one problem.
He quickly discovered something other filmmakers could have told him: fast-moving objects appeared jerky when filmed. There was no way to smoothly film their progress across a field of vision. Cameras didn't move that fast without shaking.
So, being an engineer by trade, O'Connor invented a solution. He called it the "fluid-damped camera head." It was a a silicone-filled platform that fit between the camera and the tripod. It eliminated the jerkiness that plagued the rapid panning required to film fast-moving objects.
It solved what he thought was the problem.
One day, while pursuing his joy of filming moving steam-powered locomotives, a stranger tapped O'Connor on the shoulder and asked to take a look. As the guy seemed to know his way around cameras, O'Connor agreed. By his comments, the stranger indicated he recognized what O'Connor had accomplished. And then he asked O'Connor to make 10 of the platforms for him.
That stranger was Walt Disney.
With his expert eye, Disney observed O'Connor's operation of his camera as he filmed racing steam-driven locomotives, the ultra smooth panning as the lens followed the train across the landscape. He recognized something most of us wouldn't even register: O'Connor was filming more smoothly than was possible with existing motion picture technology.
It was a subtle thing, but Walt saw the possibilities in it.
When Walt Disney tapped O'Connor on the shoulder that day, it changed the course of O'Connor's life. He went on to developed many engineering marvels, and he later won the Academy Award for his creation of the "fluid-damped camera head," an invention that completely changed filmmaking. He quit his job with the power company to work full time on his engineering projects, many of which were for Disney.
Disney was in the process of trying to film The Living Desert, one of his first live action nature films. He, too, had been plagued by the jerkiness of rapid panning required to film, in his case, fast moving animals. Using the O'Connor head, The Living Desert went on to win the very first "Academy Award for Documentary Feature."
O'Connor saw his invention as solving his problem: filming trains. Walt Disney saw the possibilities of the O'Connor head for filming ANY moving object; that it was an industry-changing invention.
And it all started with a tap on the shoulder.
Disney, an acknowledged master in his realm, saw the possibilities in the subtleties. He knew that with this relationship he could do wonders. We need someone like that in our lives, someone who can observe us so closely they can perceive the possibilities in aspects so subtle that even we may not recognize them as potential strengths.
In this week's Lectionary, Job is reeling from all the terrible things that have befallen him and his family. Job believed in God, but he had a different relationship with God than we do. Job lived in a world that associated material gain with the belief that It came about because of God's favor, God's approval. In the world view of Job's time, he should have been immune to tragedy.
We know different.
Job also believed if only he could find a way into God's presence he could present his concerns, make his case, receive an explanation of what he had done to deserve such tragedies, and perhaps get some instruction on how to correct his faults. For Job, this was hope.
It is different for us.
We know we have someone who desires the very best for us. We don't have to wait until our lives come apart before we reach out to Him. If we're open to it, we can begin an adventure with just a gentle tap on our spiritual shoulders. We need only be expectantly still.
The Master, who can see the possibilities in our subtleties, can do wonders.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
Proper 23 (28) (October 11, 2015)
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Psalm 22:1-15
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Psalm 90:12-17
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
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Be sure to read all of this coming week's Lectionary selections. This is one of those weeks when they all fit together. We're looking at Job, in particular, so start there.
Then join us for Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. We'll be talking about what happened to Job (and why), and whether we need to be concerned about something like that happening to us.
Enjoy the week!
Steve
Photo credit: http://wallpapers55.com/steam-locomotive-passing-through-desert/
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