Shutter Sisters

Tracing Mother Nature

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There are certain moments in time when you can feel the intensity of Mother Nature – the weight of her breath and the boom in her voice.

Severe storms and a string of tornados danced across the southeast on Mother’s Day morning. And as my husband and I ventured home from a weekend trip to the coast, Mother Nature’s devastating effects humbled us. Elderly trees uprooted from the earth. Pines arbitrarily snapped – their branches littering the roads and swaying from power lines. A crumpled barn. A tin roof wedged within a stately oak. As we slowed our pace through the small rural town, I quickly pulled out my camera on instinct to capture the moment. The scene. The effects. And after I snapped the first image, I stopped myself.

As we continued to journey home, I realized that much of my joy in photography is capturing the beauty of Mother Nature and her precious creations. New blooms. Plump raindrops. Aging leaves drenched with color. Thick blades of grass.  I like the way she sprinkles light like gems on water. How she breathes life into leaves as they whisper in her wind. And I love that she restores peace to the sky without fail and sets the sun to rest.  

How do you seek Mother Nature with your lens?

Comments

  2. By taking endless photos of flowers, insects, the moon and of course my beloved son 🙂 All encapsulates nature for me!

  12. Beautiful. My sister, who is a photographer, often shoots the darker, more destructive side of nature and I feel glad to see her photos in that it shows the whole story. But like you, I have had trouble pointing my camera there myself.

  25. Whenever I see a sky like that one in your photo, I happen to be without my camera! That is awe-inspiring!

    Living in the big city, I don’t get a lot of "nature" shots. Every now and then, though, I take what Mother Nature gives me, combine it with my urban setting and come up and image that captures both the natural and the urban:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/sierraromeo/2454955695/

  26. This post speaks to me as I am feeling so crushed by all the devastation caused by "mother nature" on the other side of the world! Burma and today China. My heart hurts to think of the tragedies… of the individuals both lost and left behind. Makes me realize what the truly important things are in this life.

    I don’t have a lot of nature photos yet and all your photos are so inspiring! I hope to capture more soon! Here’s a quick shot of the Sakura trees lining our street. Already the seasons are changing and the blossoms have fallen since.

    http://www.dolcepics.com/dailypic/sakura/

  31. I really enjoy getting close ups. I’ve been very lucky lately to get some great nature shots. I loved these weeds in my backyard-

    http://monkeymemories.blogspot.com/2008/05/who-knew-weeds-could-be-so-pretty.html

    I recently raised caterpillars with my kindergarten class and got some great shots when we set our butterflies free-

    http://monkeymemories.blogspot.com/2008/04/spread-your-wings-and-prepare-to-fly.html

    And then there was the little lizard one of my students brought me-

    http://monkeymemories.blogspot.com/2008/05/our-new-little-friend.html

  32. I have so many shots of mother nature because I am in awe of the talent that God gave her in making things beautiful. I have recently been much enamored of buttercups. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for them and think it is a shame they are disregarded as mere weeds. Are they not flowers too? I am including here a few shots that I got to showcase their beauty.

    http://artistryinfocus.blogspot.com/2008/05/catching-up-is-hard-to-do.html

    http://artistryinfocus.blogspot.com/2008/05/weeds-need-love-too.html