Capturing nature up close fascinates me as much today as it did when I first started photographing the outdoors years ago. The nearness amplifies the wonder I have for my subject, whether it’s a wild animal visiting the yard, a flower blooming in the garden or a fungus feeding off an old tree in the forest.
As a photographer, I’m also fascinated by how these small wonders figure into our human environment…
… especially that of children.
As a preschool teacher, I frequently marvel at how a single earthworm, ladybug or salamander can sustain the attention of a group of children. At what point do we lose this curiosity and passion for nature’s small wonders?
Those of us who continue to dig in the dirt or walk among the trees as adults have certainly retained some of this magic. (Do those adults who don’t get up close and personal with the natural world actually know what they’re missing?)
Opportunities for discovery are all around us. Even older children will display amazing determination in searching a forest for fungi…
A gorgeous polypore fungus
or animal holes in trees.
Hello in there! Is anybody home?
If children learn more from example than by the written or spoken word, then a few minutes spent outdoors with a child is key to transferring a passion for nature to future generations. I hope my photographs incite others to go outside and see what they can find out there with their own eyes.
A wild snowshoe hare as seen from the kitchen window
My photographs act as a witness to the wonders around me… both in the natural world and in the young eyes of those who are only just beginning to see it for themselves.
This post is in response to Views Infinitum’s Assignment 25: Your Photography Passion
Scott’s challenge is open to all. Submission deadline is Wednesday May 22nd 2013 at midnight (your time zone).
Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2013.
Flandrum Hill 
Have you heard of this little girl: http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/04/06/the-little-french-girl-who-played-with-wild-beasts/
It’s quite the story.
Wow Grace, I had not heard of this amazing story. The crocodile amazes me the most. But it is all quite astonishing. What a terrible thing to then take that 10 yr old child back to France and put her in school. How could she fit into such a different, rigid, “caged” place ?!
Thanks for sharing.
Grace, like Sybil, I hadn’t heard of this remarkable story either. Thanks so much for providing the link. I share the author’s hope that now that the little girl is now a young woman, she’s back in Africa enjoying a very ‘non-normal life’ – at least according to standards in France 😉
I came across Tippi’s book – Tippi in Africa – years ago, and found it absolutely spell-binding. I always wondered what happened to her when she grew up. Those pictures of her with the animals are just … beautiful … though that word doesn’t encapsulate it fully.
Amy-Lynn, I hope I never lose that sense of wonder.
Me too Sybil. Give your new kittens a snuggle for me. They’re sure to keep that wonder alive indoors when it’s too cold and wet to go outside.
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand” is a wonderful gift. One evening many years ago I was quite entertained and comforted by the presence of a tiny, tiny red mite on the page of my philosophy textbook. Your photographs do remind me to cherish presence rather than mourning loss.
Pamela, the present can be an engrossing alternative to mourning loss. We just have to open our eyes to the world right where we are.
It is such a pleasure to read your thoughts about the importance of not loosing the contact with nature, and keep being curious about the small wonders that happens all the time. I have noticed, though, that it becomes more and more difficult for people to find the balance that is needed to be able to “see”. Your photos are wonderful, they are underlining your words so very well.
Thank you Giiid. Balance is key to seeing but unfortunately requires a letting go in some area of one’s life. Usually it’s an area where we’re tempted to spend too much time already.
Lovely thoughts and photos – your passion shows through! 🙂
Thanks Karma 🙂
Great post. Yes, wonder is where it all starts…and hopefully never ends….hasn’t yet!
Thank you Catharus. Keep wondering 🙂
I do not like to call your posts, posts. I liken them to essays enhanced with your fine editorial photography.
Scott, for some reason I’ve always found a need to express what I have to say with BOTH words and images. One without the other just doesn’t seem to be enough. I like the way you describe it 🙂
[…] living things both big and small and for those who move freely or live planted firmly in one spot. Her prose and photography leave no doubt her passion for the outdoors. She also has a way of explaining things in words which pull it all together. Her posts are more […]
I love reading your well illustrated nature essays, Amy-Lynn! Fortunately for me my grandmother never lost her sense of wonder and it was very contagious. She would photograph nature, (mostly bugs – her passion!) and create slide shows and lectures she would present to her family and friends and then to various wildlife and photography clubs on Cape Cod. Occasionally my sister and I would find ourselves in some of the pictures, much to our delight. Whenever I see your grandson in one of your photos it makes me remember my grandmother with a smile. 🙂
Barbara, thanks so much for telling me about your grandmother. She sounds like my kind of person 🙂
I suspect many are inspired by looking at your photographs and reading your words to get outside. Hopefully they can open their eyes to the wonder which blossoms all around. It actually took me until about 30 to learn to open my eyes wide enough to gasp with wonder.
Kathy, the lure of technology and the need these days to work long hours prevents so many young people from getting out there. Hopefully they’ll take a break and get outside, at least during the warmer weather.
As photography has grown into a hobby for me over the years, I think one of the most positive benefits from it has been that discovery of the “up close” by looking at it through the camera lens (and then sometimes having the benefit of cropping to zoom in further and examine those fine details that even the naked eye does not always let us see.
Kat, the same has happened with me 🙂 The cropping process especially has revealed many wonderful surprises. One seldom thinks of a camera as a magnifying glass, but it certainly can be an excellent tool for seeing nature up close.