<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def _render_image(self, spec, alt=''):
 """ Given an image spec, try to turn it into a card image per the configuration """

        # pylint: disable=unused-argument

        try:
            path, image_args, _ = image.parse_image_spec(spec)
        except Exception as err:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
            # we tried™
            logger.exception("Got error on spec %s: %s", spec, err)
            return None

        img = image.get_image(path, self._image_search_path)
        if img:
            image_config = {**image_args, **self._config, 'absolute': True}
            return img.get_rendition(1, **image_config)[0]

        return None