Giants Among Us
Winter has held on too long... As photographers based in the Northeast, we’ve been closed for business now due to the Covid 19 Corona Virus now for over a month. Needless to say we are feeling a little stir crazy, yet it’s cold outside which doesn’t help to inspire us leave the house. If there is one thing I’ve learned though it’s that inspiration follows action. If we wait for inspiration to find us from some internal place, we will all be waiting a long time. Sometimes, just moving forward makes all the difference. Let’s roll…
The first rock I noticed on this photo walk.
Nature photography is a “natural” way to practice social distancing, and since we can’t photograph people at the moment we are filling that time with personal fine art projects. As we set out for Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, Connecticut we didn’t have a story in mind. I’ve been to this beach many times over for creative portrait sessions, and just to take in the sunsets. I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve walked across the rocks here. Today, on this chilly afternoon I was just seeking something to make me feel whole again. Something to give me a meaningful perspective on life, and what we are all going through. With my mind wide open to possibility, I walked the beach with my Panasonic Lumix S1R and just one lens, a Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art L.
A simple glance in the right direction, and suddenly I found myself entranced in a story that took over my every thought. For one brief moment I was looking through my camera down towards the rocks, and something caught my eye that was unexpected. The rock I was seeing through my lens looked as if an abstract painter had drawn an exquisite design on the rock. The curves weren’t normal, or a design you normally find in nature. Rather they were from a life form. But who do this?
I take my photograph, and move on. A few steps further, and I’m overwhelmed by what I see on the rocks ahead of me. The drawings seemed to go on forever. Nearly every rock in this small section of shoreline had been painted. Some rocks featured bold expressionist lines, others were faint and almost impressionist instead. Some felt hieroglyphic as if it was an ancient culture had left me stories to find. I thought to myself “some of these drawings are downright genius.”
Lumix S1R | Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art L
My next thought was puzzling, followed immediately by the realization that I was an artist, standing in the art studio, of millions of other artists. I think my heart skipped a beat. The artists at work, right before my eyes, were Periwinkle Snails who decided to call this section of the Hammonasset Natural Area Preserve at Meigs Point on the CT shoreline home.
Video by Jennifer Maring - Lumix GH5
I should have known this based on the fact that to get here you have to walk across millions of empty shells, but I hadn’t made the connection as it could just have easily been numerous other sea creature shells. Now, the entire area has my full attention. The views suddenly have more impact, the waters here give life, the rocks supply a canvas, and their living room is actually a fine art museum that is every bit as inspiring as any of the 5 Guggenheim museums. Or, every bit as interesting as any National Geographic story one could study. The story of millions of artists had found me in the most unexpected of places.
The camera is more than a tool to photograph what is in front of you. The camera offers beautiful lessons that you don’t always see on the back of a phone. There is something special about looking through the viewfinder, focusing a lens, and paying close attention to your subject. A real camera isn’t surface level in thought. Rather, it allows you to dive deep, to be engulfed in the moment, and to be thoughtful. Cameras allow us moments of self discovery, and can give us a perspective on just how small we really are. Just a spec on a rock? No, there is more to us than that. We think, we feel, we create, be perplex, we solve, we build, we destroy, we learn, we move on… But there are other giants among us who are small in size that are sharing their dream, and playing their role in this amazing universe. Take notice to everything, it’s all quite remarkable.
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