Yesterday, I spent most of the morning behind a macro lens, shooting some of the most beautiful things I've ever photographed. And guess what?
They were all weeds.
The things we spray with poison*.
The "ugly ducklings" of the plant world that we pull up by the roots (if we can get to them) before their seeds glide away on the next breeze.
As I looked through the lens at the sunny-yellow dandelions, I was struck by how much they look like "legitimate" flowers--marigolds, zinnias, asters--their little, golden petals reaching out to every corner of the universe. And I'd never noticed those brown curlicues on the outskirts of the flower. Have you ever really studied dandelions this close? I hadn't. But it was a meditation, of sorts.
They reminded me of storybook lions with perfect golden manes.
They reminded me of Ferris wheels.
And frizzy hair-do's.
And Epcot Center.
Which is to say: They took me out of my own hurry-scurry thoughts and let me just be.
Photography does that for me, especially macro photography. I'm terrible at traditional meditation--my mind in a perpetual whirl, thoughts circling like hawks on the look-out for mice. But I'm at peace behind a camera. It's from behind a camera that I look closer, and deeper, and more truthfully at the world.
And I reconsider what is beautiful.
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My next photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You", will run from July 14-July 25, 2014. (Pencil it in--full announcement coming soon!) I hope you'll join me--it's going to be FUN!
*We don't spray our lawn with herbicides and pesticides--we go the natural route with organic fertilizers and lawn treatments. See the related article below called "Keep Off The Grass: Experts Sound Off on the Health Hazards of Lawn Chemicals."
P.S. In case you haven't heard it on the news, bee populations are in trouble and need dandelions for pollination.
© 2014 by Joy Sussman/JoyfullyGreen.com. All rights reserved. Text and photos digitally fingerprinted and watermarked. Site licensed by Creative Commons.
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