Nature’s Light

Sharka and Mark

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite poems is:

“He who serves his brothers best,

 Gets closer to God than all the rest.”

 While few mortals will approach the bars set by Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr. Nelson Mandela, Buddha or Gandhi, “little people” play an important role in our collective experience called “humanity.” Ever since I discovered the photography of:

 Ansel Adams: http://www.anseladams.com/

Galen Rowell: http://www.mountainlight.com/

 and a plethora of National Geographic photographers, I have suspected that paraphrasing the above poem is appropriate.

 He who photographs Nature best,

Gets closer to God than all the rest.

 I think that this paraphrase applies to:

Sharka and Mark Waite of  NatureIsUs: http://fineartamerica.com/art/photographs/natureisus+by+markainc/acrylic+prints

Quang Luong: http://www.terragalleria.com/

Krystal Leonard: http://www.isntthatbeautiful.com/

Michael Gordon: https://www.google.com/#q=Michael+E.+Gordon++Website

These photographers have all generously shared amazing celebrations of light. We have been richly blessed by their efforts to capture “the perfect image,” which may be as illusive as capturing the face of God.

Throughout the ages, poets, sages and philosophers have described the human experience as a battle between good and evil, light and darkness.

Photographers may not feel that they are “religious” or interpreting the works of God, but what profession (or hobby) could be more sacred than one that literally focuses on natural truth, beauty and goodness. Former colleague Greg Marvin once mentioned, “Everything in nature is either beautiful or interesting.” When I shared this thought with students there was usually a class clown who would blurt out, “so is horse shit beautiful or interesting?” My answer was, “Well, as a matter of fact it is extremely interesting. It involves the basic concepts of animal life including essential activities of anabolism and catabolism, ecology, natural recycling and much more. Did he not know that every pile of horse poop was a virtual “city” of microorganism activity?”

And while this is true, most nature photographers do not focus on death, disease, destruction or animal waste, they often spend their lives trying to capture “the perfect sunset,” the exquisite snowflake, a breathtaking dawn, a beautiful dewdrop on a perfect flower petal or an infinite number of beautiful objects of focus.

There are stories that Ansel Adams sometimes planned years in advance, hoping that he would be in the perfect place at the perfect time to capture the light that would yield one of his classic images.

It is impossible to imagine this Facebook page without photographs, whether snapped at the spur of the moment, or carefully executed by one of our “masters of light.”

One Comment

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