I’m not a professional photographer. I don’t have professional gear. I use an older digital camera with autofocus and a macro feature. I don’t have serious photo-editing software on my computer, nor do I know how to properly crop and adjust colors anyway. So I’m not sure what I do with pictures can be called photography.
By going out every day and snapping pictures of the things I find, am I trying to be a photographer? That is, am I trying to create pictures as art? I’m not sure. I think what I’m trying to do is to see nature from different points of view. Too often we just look down at the ground and dismiss what we see. And why not? The things there are small, and when viewed from above, they often appear only two-dimensional. I want to imagine what it would be like to be an ant, to see a flower as a skyscraper, its gigantic petals arrayed across the broad blue sky.
I’m on the hunt for that perfect scene, “created by Nature, captured by me.” If I had an expensive camera, would it help me find the scene? Would it help me appreciate it more? Probably not. It might help me capture the scene in better color and more detail, though. So, if I ever reach that point at which I start consistently capturing scenes as I visualize them in my mind, then perhaps a better camera would be in order. Then I might say I was indulging in art. For now, it’s more of a quest.
So I keep hunting, looking for a good picture in every flower I see, even the weeds. We have an abundance of dandelions in our yard. My husband is preparing to wage war on them. Me, I am adoring them. How can you not admire the dandelion’s color when contrasted with violets or a summer sky? How can you not marvel at its structure? And if you look close enough, ignoring its garish outer appearance, how can you not admire its delicacy?
