Observing Life: Unusual Perspectives of the Ordinary

I have always been fascinated by patterns in nature, and by the "detail" of everything around us.

No doubt, you can tell by the photos I choose to illustrate my posts here; that same detail from nature has also helped inform many of my creative endeavors, including the mandala stone painting I have been fascinated by for the past decade.

We see a bright purple flower; but do we notice the tiny white flowers among the brightly colored ones?

It All Began When...

For my 16th birthday, my dad gave me my first "serious" camera — a really nice Minolta 35mm SLR. Back then (1976), we used film for everything, so photography could be a pretty expensive hobby.

Unlike many of my friends — who were out there taking pictures of parties, family, events and landscapes — I was most interested in the "inner" world; in the tiny details of everything around us.

Somehow, life felt more real if I could get "up close and personal" with it.

Bright green lichen on a rock in the desert; near Joshua Tree, California

There are so many things around us we take for granted, and just vaguely notice as "being there," without really ever truly looking at them, and seeing what is there. It is often surprising what things really look like, when you get extremely close to them.

I suppose I have been interested in patterns for as long as I can remember. To me — even as a pre-teen — it was where the true magic of our world existed.

A tiny white desert flower... but it is in the shape of a pentagon, and the tiny fleurets in the center have five petals. It's all very patterned and structured

Perhaps part of the reason I looking for these tiny pieces of art in nature... was related to the fact that I can't draw or paint anything to save my life!

Even under the supervision of some quite good — and very patient — art teachers, I was still not very good at drawing anything so it looked like what I intended.

Another tiny desert plant. Notice how the little flowers actually have FOUR petals, are asymmetrical and almost like like little white butterflies. It almost looks like a 5th petal is "missing," but why would it be missing from ALL the flowers? Nature is curious...

Every year, I probably take about 8-10 thousand nature close-up shots. Most of them are shaky and pretty lousy, but every now and then I capture something that makes me sit back and wonder at the beauty of it all.

Even if you're not "obsessive" about it — like I might be — I hope to take an occasional moment or two to pause and appreciate what's all around us!

Thanks for reading, and looking at the pictures!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190208 00:13 PST
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