Photography Near Your Home

Sometimes you don't have to go any further than your own backyard to enjoy little moments with nature. Even if you don't have a backyard, there is usually a park nearby where you can take a peek inside your local greenery.

Observe the details around you. Especially in winter, the weather is often inclement and longer trips may not be possible, so the greenery of nature that is right next to you becomes a source of inspiration.

Winter berries with drops of water. In your own backyard.

Macro Photography

Taking macro photos with an iPhone is tricky. There is a tiny place where it is in focus.

In fact, we think nature holds rather still, that is, until you're trying to get a macro photo. Things must be absolutely still for a perfect focus. Suddenly you notice just how much plants are swaying in the wind.

I have to smile as I wait for a breeze to pass. "Patience, little one," I say to myself.

One day, I struggled with a photo of a mushroom. The ground was soaking wet from the recent rains for which we were grateful, by the way, in our parched California. I needed to maneuver closer to it.

I had recycled the metal frame from a broken umbrella and saved the waterproof material shell, thinking it might come in handy to sit on.

Sure enough, here was the moment. I pulled it out to sit on the grass so as better to see a mushroom that proudly displayed its brown cap.

The neighbor kitty wants to know what I'm doing sitting on the wet grass. In your own backyard.

The neighbor kitty popped over the fence and dropped into my backyard.

"Whatcha doing down here?" she asked, my own backyard feline wildlife.

"Sitting on a tarp on wet grass, trying to get a photo of a mushroom," I replied.

After the rain, water drops on a leaf. Nature in your own backyard.

Create Like No One Is Watching

We're staying with the theme of creating like no one is watching, without being self-conscious and without immediate judgment. Let creativity stretch. Look at things in a different light. For some that is painting, art journaling, and yes, photography.

What nature is sharing with us? Is the air crisp? Is the wind moving? The invisible parts of nature are speaking to us.

A mushroom opens its tops with raggedy edges. In your backyard.

My Raggedy Mushroom

The mushroom picture I tried to get was quite a challenge. The depth of focus in macro photography is very short, meaning only a portion of my complex mushroom would come into focus.

I had watched this mushroom when it first appeared in my backyard, smooth and round initially. Then, it opened its lower gills and all the edges frayed and split creating mystical dimensions of undulating mushroom flesh.

I never really got the photo I wanted of this mushroom... but that, too, is part of the process. Knowing that I still had an interaction with nature was fulfilling. Let’s keep creating.

Hearts in the Wind