I know it sounds a little cliched, but the simple fact is that beauty is everywhere. Nothing makes me see that more than photography, and recognizing it has become such a part of my everyday being that I don't even think about it anymore. I just see it. It never ceases to amaze me how you can find fascination in the plain, ordinary and everyday. It's a simple concept, but when you get it into your consciousness things don't seem so ordinary anymore. One of my favorite places to look for the mundane is on the ground, and I take great pleasure in lying on the ground in the middle of the woods, or a meadow, or a hillside with my camera and seeing the world from inches high....getting up close and personal with things I'd otherwise walk by or even step on...then creating art from it. That totally does it for me, and is one of a million reasons why I love to shoot.
I recently read a passage by photographer David Baird that sums it all up in verse far superior to my rantings:
"Walk softly, lest in your haste
you miss a thousand things of beauty,
partly hidden or in plain sight
in the most mundane places.
In the big view, or in tiny crevices,
intriguing patterns may be left to
fade into grey environmental blur
without satisfying that human curiousity
that comes, not just with passing by,
but with pausing to see, understanding and feeling."
deep enough for ya? enjoy these images of nature shot from inches high... -dave
