As I’ve explored these past few weeks and played with my camera more — trying to catch birds as they “pose” for me and seeing if “sport mode” helps to capture the water droplets on the river — I have been struck by the strangeness of being proud of a nature photograph.
Of course, photography is an art and the mechanics do not come easily for me. But I have to chuckle when I think about the fact that what I am doing is trying to capture this moment, this bird, this river, in its truest most perfect form, so I can later remember what it was like to see it in person, and pretend that I am there when I am stuck inside. The true beauty is the thing itself — its surroundings, movements, interactions with the wind and the sun. A picture is simply an attempt to encapsulate even a fragment of that beauty in a moment in time.
So I just find it funny to feel pride for a photo. I even find myself feeling pride that I live in such a beautiful area, and that I have access to so much loveliness. For that, I have done even less to earn it! So why I should feel pride is beyond me. Human nature is a funny thing. Does nature feel pride? Perhaps she does, sometimes, at creating the most beautiful things in the world and displaying them unabashedly for all to see. I hope that she does, just as I hope that she is sometimes able to love us as we love her.
So, here are some of my mediocre copies. I am proud of them.
Most of these photos are from Wallace Falls State Park. The last is from my home in Seattle.