How nature photography helps grounding in your own nature.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I agree. But what goes into that collection of pixels is another story. 

Since I bought my first camera — a Kodak disc — at Hi-School Pharmacy in Scappoose, I’ve felt love with almost every shot. Now, at 10 years old, and with early technology, only about 3 of the 15 frames ever turned out to be noteworthy. And of those, none were ever going to appear in National Geographic. 

But the joy it brought me to connect to the subject enough to snap the moment in the first place was worth the potential of failure. Photography taught me to pay attention to the landscape around me.​

My early version of beauty was piglets raised on our farm and flowers and produce grown in family gardens. 

Today, with a deepened connection to the Natural World and access to instant technology, photography feels like an extension of my soul. I no longer think about the shot as much as I integrate an emotion or spirit into the frame. 

When done in an immersive way, photography in the outdoors offers an opening into the mystical realm of nature’s intelligence. Your connection to the subject creates a spiritual and emotional bond — leading to feelings of belonging, resilience, and purpose. 

The visual arts are an effective way to view the Natural World through a different lens. In my work, this approach (like describing how they’d depict a branch on a tree) helps new clients begin bonding with their surroundings while doing walks in the Washington Arboretum. Zoom-guided nature immersions also use inspiring natural images to help people connect to their own nature. And I’ve witnessed powerful results from incorporating several visual arts activities into my Olympic Peninsula nature retreats.

With this in mind, I’ll lead a nature photography course at Chatcolab in North Idaho this summer. It will incorporate the fundamentals to bond deeply in the Natural World to help campers take more memorable photos in the wild. 

And you can do this too. It doesn’t require a camera, although that might be helpful out of the gate. 

The next time you leave your home, for example, stop and make a note of one organic thing in your line of sight. In the selection process, try to push away any notion of what is noteworthy, beautiful, or artistic.

Then, try this:

1. Keep contact with this thing for a few moments — enough to disrupt your usual pattern. 
2. Suspend any preconceived notions about what is required to be an artist.
3. Imagine how you’d portray this organic element visually. A watercolor painting? A black-and-white photo? Would you focus on the texture, pan into a closeup, or reach a bigger picture? 
4. Push yourself for a few more moments to connect with this developing scene. It might only be 15 seconds but try it. How do you feel now? 
5. Remember all this, and take one photo if you have a camera available. Be sure to be mindful as you depress the button. 
6. Later, examine the photo without judgment. What do you remember about the experience? How do you feel now?

This simple exercise can provide enough (good) disruption to help you manage powerful feelings or a racing brain. The longer you allow nature to assist you, the better the outcome. You may begin spending one minute each day with this activity and eventually stretch the time to five minutes. 

To take this a step further, you may feel frustrated or helpless with world events unfolding around the clock. It is a genuine phenomenon to experience the frenetic energy of the collective. 

Then, perhaps you connect with an organic item in the abovementioned ways. Create and share an image authentically representing your nature bond on social media. Use it to help disrupt the collective spiral. Print out the picture (you can usually send it to a nearby drugstore) and put it near your media conduit. 

When used this way, a picture can be a thousand words about reclaiming your essence — a reset button to face the wilderness of your own life. 

Give it a try today, and send me your photos. Or post them on social media with the #kessiworld. 

All the best! Matthew

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