Autumn colors are here and beauty abounds. I find that using a camera helps me focus and notice nuances I would otherwise miss. For example, we are enjoying the fall colors in our tupelo tree (Nyssa sylvatica), also called black gum.
However, until I photographed it I hadn’t noticed the rich mixture of red, orange and green leaves and the dark contrasting branches.
Using a camera helps me see things that would otherwise escape my notice. I recently wrote an article for the Lexington Chevy Chaser encouraging people to use a camera to see more.
I’d be glad to know if you have had similar experiences. I’d also like to hear other ideas for seeing and enjoying the beauty that’s close at hand.
like your black gum. good shot
Thanks, Carter.
One of the ways that I like to see and enjoy the beauty that’s close at hand is to be still. I once took a tracking class and one day we went to the high alpine mountains of Mt. Evans in CO in hopes of spying some of the elusive mountain goats that live there. While there, our instructor taught us how to observe the pikas (order Lagomorpha – adorable little members of the rabbit/hare family) that thrive in the rocky scree slopes there. He told us all to pick a rock and sit on it and be still for 10 minutes. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but within 10 minutes we were able to put faces to all of those high-pitched squeaks we were hearing echoing off of the rocky slopes! Sitting still on my rock I was able to watch as the pikas came out and resumed gathering their ‘hay’ to be used for their winter bedding and food. Imagine the results if you had been there and we could have combined our ways to ‘see more’!
Keli, thanks much for sharing this story. Yes, I think being still is a key to seeing more. I wonder, why is it so hard for us to do?