How my photography benefits from nature journaling

As I shared in this post a few weeks ago, one of my plans this year is to learn how to draw. I want to learn basic techniques, but I am specifically interested in drawing plants, trees and other interesting things I find in nature. So, I took an online class to get started. The teacher mentioned that drawing in and from nature would teach you to be more observant and to pay more attention to the small things around you. And I thought self-assured to myself that I was already a master at this, because ever since I started photographing, I was always drawn to the little details in Nature.

On my walks with my dog, I started to look for objects I could take with me and draw at home. Since it is winter and nature is still asleep, I concentrated on pine cones, dried flowers and sticks on the floor. And I was surprised to find things I had never noticed before or looked in places I usually wouldn’t pay attention to when I was photographing.

Look at these hairy little seeds!

This dried flower for example, I found on top of my neighbours organic waste bin (it still makes me laugh and a bit embarrassed that I actually took these). There was a whole bunch of this plant, which must be some sort of shrub. Although I have photographed a lot of dried flowers, this one is unknown to me. Because I was so fascinated by the aesthetics of this plant, I decided to take a few stems of it home to draw and photograph. Only then I noticed that the buds were losing these hairy little seeds. I saved them all and plan to grow them in the spring. This will be fun.

A dried flower stem from a rhododendron bush.

Another example is this dried specimen from a rhododendron bush. This plant is very common in my neighborhood. You can find this evergreen plant on almost every property, including the garden of my rental place. And although it is a joy to see them blooming in the summer, I admit that I never really paid much attention to them in winter until a few days ago, when I noticed all these dried remnants of the flowers.

Seeds of a monkey puzzle tree.

The last find were these interesting seeds of a monkey puzzle tree (what a great name for this tree!) in our local botanical garden. I have been by this tree before. It is a fascinating and cool-looking tree, but I was never really inspired to photograph it because the tree's location is not perfect from a photographic point of view. When I walked by the tree the other day, I stopped to look at it with my “drawing glasses”, thinking about how I could draw it, when I noticed these seeds lying on the ground.

I found all these little treasures because I went on a mission to find something to draw. I found them in places which I usually wouldn’t find very photogenic or would look for motives. I am sure I would have overlooked them, would I had been out there intending to photograph. And even though I took them home with the plan to draw them, I felt inspired to photograph them as well. A few photos will be part of a zine I have already been working on.

I am only a few weeks into my adventure in nature journaling, but seeing how much more there is to it is very exciting. It is not only an enrichment for my photography, but I am also learning a lot about nature. But this might be a topic for another newsletter.

I hope you enjoyed todays newsletter.

All as always: Thanks again for being here.

Susanne

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