by Leigh
One of these days I will talk about something other than flowers. Oh who am I kidding...that's never going to happen! I've come to the conclusion that the reason I like to photograph nature more than I do people is because I don't have to control, pose, bribe, prod nature. When I'm outside I am an observer....walking along and listening to what nature is telling me....paying attention to what nature wants to show me. I don't have to dress up for it. I don't have to talk out loud to it. I can be myself with nature.
Maybe that's why I have such a strong connection to everything in the plant world. The relationship we have appeals to my inner introvert. I don't have to make small talk or fidget with my outfit. There's no concern over what I'm wearing or if my hair looks ok. Nature does not judge me and I do not judge it. There is a mutual appreciation.
Nature is a teacher, a healer, a friend. It's like Thoreau said,
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
"Living a deliberate life." I love that. And maybe that's what it's all about....living a mindfully rich life rather than a monetarily rich one. In a true transcendentalist way, Thoreau believed strongly in the power of nature and living simply. I believe that is a lesson that applies just as much now as it did for Thoreau in 1854.
"Look! Look! Look deep into nature and you will understand everything."
~Walt Whitman
