My online journal sharing interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
“My work is Loving the World.” Mary Oliver
I believe nature can create visual art that brings pleasure to my soul. I’ll even say it creates art that touches all of the senses; smell, touch, visual, audible and taste. Could it be that nature is the ultimate artist? As Mary Oliver ask do I participate as an artist with nature in loving it, respecting it, protecting it?
“I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
While living in the Westerville, Ohio area I was exposed to nature areas that were so different from my home state of Colorado. I was enthralled with all the green, the insects , the soft diffused light and the amount of rain. I was not used to all the rain and for sure had to adjust to the overcast skies. I cans still in my memory recall the distinct fragrance these forested areas offered, telling me how alive they were.
At the time I was traveling 3-4 days then home for 3-4 days. These extended days off gave me the opportunity to explore the Metro Parks in around the Westerville area. I found two parks within about 10 minutes of my apartment so I ventured into those worlds on regular basis. One was Inniswood Gardens and the other was Blendon Woods. And, the days I was traveling were opportunities to explore new cities, peoples, cultures and almost unlimited photo opportunities. It was during this time I feel I began to grow emotionally and spiritually which in turn allowed my view of the world to grow. And, this emotional and spiritual growth was the seed to the growth of my photography.
Since I was early to meet a friend at a local coffeehouse called the Wild Boar, I took a walk across the street to the CSU Experimental Gardens. Look what I found! 🙂
We had a nice rain for the past 24 hours. Refreshing. I discovered this image on my way to the coffee shop this morning. It was shot in jpeg and loaded into an online photo editing tool called Polarr using a Chromebook. I did no editing but saved it as a jpeg file for the web. I’m just learning some of what it can do. It’s layout reminds me of Lightroom.
Along the Colorado Front Range it is not uncommon to have storms develop in the afternoons and then move off the east. However, the severity of these storm over the past couple days has been amazing. Two evenings ago we had hail damage to several aircraft at Denver International Airport causing causing enough damage to ground several United and Frontier aircraft and canceling flights for several days. Last night was a repeat with heavy lightening and thunder to accompany the dark and ominous sky. On the morning after comes the refreshing smell that only rain can bring, along with raindrops still clinging to the grass and leaves. I like this sort of morning after.
One of the nice things about the G12 is the quick macro mode, no need to change a lens. However, I still must get down on my knees to get close. What a world we have to enjoy, especially after a nice rain.
Photo opportunities are always there after a fresh rain. All we have to do is get out there.