Appreciating Nature through Photography
Many times in the Bible we find mention of God’s miraculous and powerful creation in nature. God clearly wanted us to notice what He made (Job 38). Not only should we notice it, but give credit to Him, the Creator, and use it to learn from. Even amidst the sin of this world, His works are plainly evident in what He made. Not just simply by observing the visual beauty of His work, but also “seeing” the lesson in it. The more I have appreciated His works in creation, the more I’ve been able to “see” His lessons and learn about Him.
One of the ways I have found to express and foster my appreciation of God’s creation is through photography. In those frequent moments on nature walks when my children and I observe something that makes us stop and give awe to the Creator, out comes the camera because I simply must capture what I see to share with others. Is this to “show off” my amateur photography skills? Well, maybe a teensy bit :), but mostly it’s to share my excitement for the beauty I observe and give the Creator the credit for making it. Even in the midst of dreary weather, there is always something to find to appreciate and find beauty in.
And as the seasons pass by I love looking back on photographs that I have taken in different seasons to remember and appreciate them for the beauty I find during that particular time of year.
I have particularly become fond of macro photography. Macro photography, to me, is simply taking very close-up pictures with the “macro” setting on your camera. It allows you to see detail, that sometimes, even the human eye cannot see easily.
Do you have to be an excellent photographer or own a very expensive camera? Absolutely not! Not every photo I take is of high quality (my camera is not a professional camera). In fact I just snapped a couple of pictures this morning of our friendly neighborhood Pileated Woodpecker and since I have to zoom so far in to take the picture, my photos aren’t the best. But I love them just the same as they are a memory to me of how excited my children and I were to observe this beautiful bird.
My children also enjoy looking back over our nature photos from previous years. It brings back many fond memories and continues to foster an appreciation of God’s creation in them too. This is a photo of my daughter from several years ago (she’s 13 years old now!) nursing a House Finch back to health that had flown into our glass sliding door. And the one below that is Grandpa holding my son (who’s 11 years old now!) up to see a bird’s nest with babies in it.
In many of our units we suggest nature photography as part of the lessons and notebooking pages for nature notebooks. We hope that you are able to make nature photography part of your nature walks and nature appreciation!
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