Tag Archives: Macro photography

The Joy of the Unexpected

As a photographer I am attracted to things I find beautiful…interesting shapes, saturated colors, cute furry animals, sweet children. But today was different.

Using my macro lens, I was taking photos of a paperwhite bulb that is beginning to emerge, capturing the brilliant green shoots emerging from the jar.

But I wasn’t done exploring with my lens. I noticed the orchid in the kitchen window still hanging onto the dried blossoms. I should probably pull off these dead remnants, but instead I aimed my macro lens and captured a beautiful image of the dried and withered petals.

I headed outside into the unusually warm December morning, still looking for opportunities to get close. I noticed this dried blossom on the hedge and leaned in.

Then I noticed the old wires on the part of the sprinkler system that has been disabled. There’s a certain elegant beauty to the turquoise plastic revealing the coppery wire within.

I headed around the corner toward the hibiscus plant. It has tiny shoots of green emerging along with dried remains of previous flowers.

And I have a love/hate relationship with spider webs. They can be elegantly beautiful like delicate lace, especially when they capture drops of dew or rain. And they can be a messy nuisance. But when you look closely, you can see past the mess and notice the intricacies of design and the way the sunlight plays with the thin strands.

I found myself looking for things I would otherwise think of as ugly as I photographed with my macro lens this morning…and I found unexpected beauty and experienced the joy of discovery in my re-seeing.

All of these unedited photos are yet another reminder that there is plenty of beauty to find in our world if we take the time to look past the obvious and consider perspectives beyond what is conventionally accepted.

Where do you find beauty? Do you find joy in the unexpected?

Frosty Beauty

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White crystalline structures, both fragile and surprisingly strong, appeared this morning on the lawns and cars in my neighborhood.

All too often frost is just another annoyance…evidence of cold weather and the need to either scrape the windshield or wait for the defroster to gain enough traction to melt it so I can see through the windshield to drive off to work.

But this morning, when I heard there was frost on the cars, I put the macro lens on my phone, grabbed my jacket and headed outside…before even taking time for breakfast or coffee.

And I was rewarded by the intricate lacy beauty of this micro winter wonderland.

When viewed through my macro lens, those ordinary blades of grass were transformed.

This stray leaf blossomed with delicate white crystals of ice. I was afraid to breathe too heavily for fear of melting these structures before I could capture them through my lens.

The frozen moisture seems to grow, creating intricate pathways of texture extending over the roof of the car. It seemed to stay colder there longer than along the sides. I’m sure the neighbors thought I was crazy as I crawled along the lawn photographing blades of grass and peered along the top of my car examining the patterns of frost in the crisp, cooler-than-usual morning air.

But for me, I rediscovered my sense of wonder and curiosity as I worked intently to find and capture this minute beauty.

My macro lens has reminded me once again to take the time to look closely and appreciate the beauty in those things that seem uninteresting or annoying on the surface.

I didn’t get to work quite as early as I usually do this morning, but I had the perfect start to my day…just by looking a bit more closely.

It’s the Little Things

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Yesterday I dug out my macro lens and started playing with it again. It’s one of those things that I love, but I have to stop what I’m doing, take the cover off my phone, unscrew the macro lens from the wide angle, attach it and then lean in to photograph my subject. Using the macro means coming close, taking time to steady myself and my breathing, and holding still for the perfect shot. It’s easy to get the focus wrong and come away with a blurry shot.

And in spite of all of that, I love the vantage the macro lens offers. I get to see small things in new ways. Things that are easily overlooked suddenly come into focus, creating a stunning new way of understanding the subject.

A familiar TED talk also crossed my Twitter feed this morning. Angela Duckworth talking about her research about what makes students successful…was it intelligence or something she calls grit? She found in case after case, holding all other variables steady, that grit made the difference.

This 6 minute video is well worth your time. But it’s also important to think about not just students and how hard they work, but also how teachers view persistence and effort. A growth mindset, as described by Carol Dweck, means that errors are seen as part of the learning process. Mistakes are an opportunity for learning, not an indicator of lack of effort or lack of intelligence.

So back to the macro lens and the little things. With the help of the macro lens I can appreciate the beauty of things I hadn’t paid much attention to before, like this half blown dandelion in my yard.

And with a growth mindset I can also appreciate the little things about my students as I notice how they approach a math problem or understand a science concept or even where their struggles are with decoding. Instead of seeing what they can’t do, I pay attention to the beauty of what they do know and help them use their strengths as tools to make progress where things seem hard.

Like these tiny, ethereal dandelion seeds, learners can take the seeds of understanding from one subject and plant them in others. And as teachers paying close attention, we can help our students identify their strengths and repurpose them in other situations.

When I went outside this morning the cactus flower blossom in the pot near my front door was closed…looking droopy and like it might be ready to fall off. But since I was playing with my macro lens, I leaned in and got close…and captured this.

Without the lens, my eyes did not capture the beauty and colors that my camera could see (all of these photos are unedited originals). I noticed later in the day when the sun had reached the door that the blooms opened, yellow and vibrant.

I’m glad that I took some time with my macro lens today…and with Angela Duckworth’s TED talk. Tomorrow I return to my classroom after a week away for the Thanksgiving holiday. And I’ll be looking closely and leaning in to notice all that my students bring to the learning…even when it seems hard…to appreciate their strengths and re-view their mistakes. We’ll be developing our grit…together.