The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera. ~ Dorothea Lange
{Seen while scrolling Facebook as I was taking a break from preparing this email.)
In every moment the universe is whispering to you. There is wisdom for you
in the morning songs of the birds outside your window…. ~ Denise Linn
GROUND: abundant fauna and flora as urban nature
LIGHT: my eye and the camera together as an instrument
One of three characteristics of Jung’s understanding of the spiritual potential of synchronicity is Luminosity.
The website gaia.com describes it this way:“The indication [is] that all of this [synchronicity] happens
within a…shared field of divinity, in communion with a greater whole.”
A few years ago animals started showing up in my yard, outside my office window, and during my walks in our city parks – all within spitting distance of downtown Minneapolis. Of course, I was delighted and felt honored that they allowed me to photograph them. After a time, there had been so many that their visits began to seem normal. When I showed some of the photos to a friend, she said, “It’s like they come to have their pictures taken by you. They even pose!” Yes, it was like that. And then, at some point, I saw them less and less. I have only come to see the synchronicities of that time because I don’t have it very often any more.
That abundance of urban wildlife may occur again during my lifetime. Who knows? Just in case, I always have my camera ready. But it can only happen if and when the animals and I happen show up at exactly the same place at exactly the same time. Like the day the hawk and the eagle danced and sang together for a long while. Or like the fox who happened outside our home one day in the winter and sat down on the street right in front of the living room window. I got my camera and started taking photos only to realize that there was no card in the camera. I ran to get one and returned to the window. The fox had been patient. However, he wasn’t sitting anymore so I didn’t get that shot. Instead, he was standing still. I did get that shot right through our living room window (below).
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