Photography Near Your Home

Sometimes you don't have to go any further than your own backyard to enjoy little moments with nature. Even if you don't have a backyard, there is usually a park nearby where you can take a peek inside your local greenery.

Observe the details around you. Especially in winter, the weather is often inclement and longer trips may not be possible, so the greenery of nature that is right next to you becomes a source of inspiration.

Winter berries with drops of water. In your own backyard.

Macro Photography

Taking macro photos with an iPhone is tricky. There is a tiny place where it is in focus.

In fact, we think nature holds rather still, that is, until you're trying to get a macro photo. Things must be absolutely still for a perfect focus. Suddenly you notice just how much plants are swaying in the wind.

I have to smile as I wait for a breeze to pass. "Patience, little one," I say to myself.

One day, I struggled with a photo of a mushroom. The ground was soaking wet from the recent rains for which we were grateful, by the way, in our parched California. I needed to maneuver closer to it.

I had recycled the metal frame from a broken umbrella and saved the waterproof material shell, thinking it might come in handy to sit on.

Sure enough, here was the moment. I pulled it out to sit on the grass so as better to see a mushroom that proudly displayed its brown cap.

The neighbor kitty wants to know what I'm doing sitting on the wet grass. In your own backyard.

The neighbor kitty popped over the fence and dropped into my backyard.

"Whatcha doing down here?" she asked, my own backyard feline wildlife.

"Sitting on a tarp on wet grass, trying to get a photo of a mushroom," I replied.

After the rain, water drops on a leaf. Nature in your own backyard.

Create Like No One Is Watching

We're staying with the theme of creating like no one is watching, without being self-conscious and without immediate judgment. Let your creativity stretch. Be willing to look at things in a different light. For some that is painting, art journaling, and yes, photography. Our smartphones put a camera in all our hands.

For students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®), let your heart guide you to experiment with your creativity. When you step outside, take a moment to place a hand in your heart with your TRT® hands-on.

You can become more in touch with your creativity and what nature is sharing with you. Is the air crisp? What's the wind doing? Listen to all the invisible parts of nature speaking to you.

Use of your TRT® hands-on is a great way to expand your awareness of the invisible, of the little ones and the often over-looked.

A mushroom opens its tops with raggedy edges. In your backyard.

My Raggedy Mushroom

The mushroom picture I tried to get was quite a challenge. The depth of focus in macro photography is very short, meaning only a portion of my complex mushroom would come into focus.

I had watched this mushroom when it first appeared in my backyard, smooth and round initially. Then, it opened its lower gills and all the edges frayed and split creating mystical dimensions of undulating mushroom flesh.

I never really got the photo I wanted of this mushroom... but that, too, is part of the process. Knowing that your interaction with nature is deeper and more whole than any image you capture is part of the joy and reward of being there, present, in person.

Happy creating!

Welcome To The Micro-Cosmos

In our last post, we looked at the Macro-Cosmos in terms of galaxies and the Constellation of Leo.

Now let's explore nature in the other direction, into the Micro-Cosmos.

We could choose many levels of the micro-world, going in as far as neutrons and protons. However, we'll stop at the level of insects and snails.

The World Of Tiny Creatures

In the first photo, a spider guards her eggs. Captured in macro-photography, we are drawn to these magical orbs. Photographer is Ondrej Pakan.

Pakan has over 2,000 photos on 500px that represent hours of patience and getting up early with the dew and the dawn to capture, up-close, the insect world. It's a world we don't normally see from our vantage point.

Here, we have morning dewdrops on a fly.

Feathers On Mosquito Antennae

Lush feather-like hairs on the antennae of this mosquito capture the slightest movement of air. Many humans would like to have lashes this lovely.

The breath of life breathes upon all tiny animals and they spring into existence. They pirouette in the dance of life in their miniature worlds. Their secret lives spin around us and we stand beside them in the same experience of birth and death.

Who can say their lives are of "less" importance?

Perhaps we don't need a designation of greater or lesser.

Explore Our Micro-Cosmos

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can use their TRT® hands-on in their heart center to bring them more in touch with listening to and becoming aware of the little ones on our planet.

In our meditation, we start from where we began, as star stuff with the Macro-Cosmos and then travel to the Micro-Cosmos where we share this planet with all of God's creatures.

From stars in the sky to a spider web at our feet:

Hearts in the Wind