Nature Photography with marysejansenart
Connecting with nature on a daily basis
This week I have posted nature-bite #100!! If you want to know what nature-bites are and how this project came about, click here to read my earlier post!
Connecting with nature every day
For a hundred days in a row I have been creating these images. Every single day I took a moment to step outside and look around to find something in nature that I could share. Some days I was out and about and took the opportunity to share something that I found in those places. When I was in the rainforest for instance, I shared an image of a waterfall. And when I was up at the Sunshine Coast, I noticed the beautiful light and dark in the sky and the reflection of the sun on the waves:
But most days I was home and went for a walk in my neighbourhood or even just stayed in my garden. When I walk through my suburb I look around at what is growing in the gardens and I walk through every little park or strip of nature that I can find.
My garden is full of beautiful plants and flowers and small critters such as bugs and spiders.
While everywhere I go there are birds, they are not so easy to capture within the scope of this project as all images are taken with a mobile phone, but occasionally I do manage to catch one! Such as the time when an Australian Brush Turkey unexpectedly paid a visit to my garden!
When you take the time to look there is always something to see, no matter where you are! If anything, there is always the sky! Cloud formations are never boring!
This way I connected with nature each day, and so did my followers on LinkedIn, simply by taking a moment to look at the image that I created.
Awe and wonder
It doesn’t have to be the tallest tree, the highest mountain or the most endangered bird to be interesting. It can be equally effective to appreciate the smaller things in life, such as a beautiful little flower or the spectacular colours on a little spider. Even in a highly concreted urban environment you might find a little plant growing in the crack of the pavement that creates a sense of awe and wonder when you think about it. The colours of the sky at sunrise or sunset are beautiful and inspiring.
Nature has a tendency to make us feel feelings like awe and wonder. These feelings are very good for us. Research has shown that awe makes us expand our focus, away from our narrow self-focus, and makes us feel connected to something bigger (group, society or even beyond). We become nicer: more generous and helpful and we feel better. Our immune system also gets a boost from experiencing awe, lowering inflammation and stress.
An Invitation to Create and Share your own Nature-bite
This is just one small example of all the benefits you can get from connecting with nature. Even just by looking at my daily images! The more nature, the better though. So if you go out yourself to enjoy some ‘real life nature’, the benefits will be even stronger.
Therefore I would like to invite you to step outside today, step in your garden or go for a walk and find your own nature-bite. If you can’t do that, simply looking out of your window could do the trick. I would love it if you would take a photo and share it with me in the comments below. If you can’t take a photo, you can just describe the moment and what you saw. By sharing these moments with each other we are all helping each other feel better! Wouldn’t that be a nice thing to do today?
If you want to follow the discussion, please be aware that it is possible to subscribe to it. Just click on the subscribe-button, which looks like ✉ just above the comment section (below the star-rating). You will then be alerted by email about the new posts that have been made and be able to enjoy all the nature-bites that will be shared!
For a showcase of some more images and how I made them, have a look at this short video:
