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Thoughts from an emerald forest

I can never capture on film the beauty of light in a forest, shining through the canopy onto a single fern, a pebble, a droplet falling through air from a waterfall.  I like to tell myself it’s not that I lack the skill (I do), but because the beauty is bigger than the light, more encompassing than a visual scene trapped within the borders of a photograph.  The allure is in the sunbeam, yes, but it’s also in the feel of cool forest air on the back of your neck, the damp scent of brown earth and green moss and red mushrooms, the dappled light that shines on one thing or another, on leaves lifting their faces to the sun, giving themselves to God.

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I once had great books:  a guide to photographing nature; Stephen King On Writing; Brenda Ueland’s If you want to write.  I got rid of them all during one purge or another.  During a great de-cluttering when I thought photography and writing were just another phase.  Now I wish I had them.  That’s a problem with a butterfly mind.  You never know where it might alight again and stay.

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Our daughter likes to collect things from nature.  Seashells, fallen flowers, acorn caps, butterfly wings.  While I will only keep perfect ones – unchipped, unfaded – our daughter doesn’t mind blemishes.  She’ll take a Venus clam with a hole or a worm tunnel in it, a rhododendron flower with bruised petals, a washed-out, nicked swallowtail wing.  Unlike my tokens, which are beautiful but lack dimension, hers have depth.  Their scars inspire scenarios – a moon snail drilling with its raspy radula, a single flower falling, a butterfly in frantic flight from a bird that’s closing in on it – and make me wonder.  Like people, the broken ones have stories.

12 thoughts on “Thoughts from an emerald forest”

  2. I love this because in your own words you explained to yourself the beauty and the meanings behind photos. It is my wish to one day dabble in photography because I dream of being to capture the heart with pictures as we can do with words. I’ve seen some pictures that have inspired me to write some of my best works and although we cannot see beyond the borders of the pictures frame, our imagination can guide us and create a whole new world in our mind of what may lie beyond…Great post! Thank you! I’ll be following your words! S.

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    1. “Although we cannot see beyond the borders of the pictures frame, our imagination can guide us and create a whole new world in our mind of what may lie beyond” Beautifully said. I’m so glad for the skilled photographers in this world – I am in awe of their ability to capture the essence of a scene.

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      1. Agreed…”we are the music makers…and we are the dreamers of the dream…” — photographers are to me just as powerful as writers — they create the scene and enhance the scene with words …I love writing to pictures…that’s a project of mine that I started working on — writing short stories to go with a collection of pictures…will be fun to see what comes out of it!

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  5. Reading about people who regret certain items they have gotten rid of reassures me in my reluctance to declutter. 🙂

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    1. Oh, there’s plenty of regret around here 😀 I’ve thrown away far too many things that I wish I had kept. But I’ve thrown away far more that I’ve never thought about again. At least I can reacquire books if I decide I need them badly enough.

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  6. Sounds like Annabelle is into wabi-sabi…seeing the perfection in the imperfections.

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