Reflections

Here is my eighth photo/essay in my photography/writing project. It’s called Reflections and it’s about different kinds of reflections and about beauty and impermanence. Here it is…

Reflections

The pond behind our house is an endless source of beauty in my life. In the warm months of the year, the surface of the pond is constantly changing. And at certain times of day the reflections of nearby bushes and plants in the pond water often look like a Monet painting.

These reflections remind me of the unceasingly changing world we live in and how choosing joy and choosing to see beauty in the world has changed my life.

Some days I feel as if I’ve been saved by the beauty of the world. I go to the woods when I feel a need to touch something whole and holy. The trees are my wise friends who teach me about life, acceptance, presence, and more. Over the decade plus that I’ve been a serious photographer I see more and more beauty everywhere I go, even in my own backyard.

During the pandemic when so many of us were staying home more than ever before I learned to find beauty simply looking out my windows at the pond behind the house. I realize that my backyard with the pond and the park area beyond is not your typical suburban backyard. This home with the trees and pond beyond have been my sanctuary for over twenty years. Some days I can imagine that I am living in a cabin in the woods despite living in a large suburb of a large city. I am grateful every day to be able to live here and enjoy this beauty.

The beauty that I see and make photographs of is a kind of gift that I give to anybody who has a hunger for beauty. Most of all it’s a gift to myself, seeking beauty, seeing beauty, making photographs of that beauty, sharing beauty.

I got saved by the beauty of the world.
— Mary Oliver

Self-reflection

The reflections in the pond behind our house also remind me of another type of reflection—reflective presence or self-reflection. I believe there is great power in self-reflection. One of the questions I used to ask software development teams that I coached was, “What surprised you this week?” That question replaced questions I used to ask like, “What went well? What didn’t go well? What have you learned?” Those questions were not open enough and often yielded very little learning. But surprise has the ability to wake us up to something if we are willing to pay attention to it and reflect on it. Think about it. What surprised you this week? What can you learn from that?

Often when I go walking in the world with my camera, it is the little things I see that surprise me and become the subjects of my photographs—the hidden beauty that surrounds us even when we’re unaware that it’s there.

Awareness

Walking through the world, camera in hand, watching the world as the seasons turn and change, I realize that everything is mortal. Everything dies. But what everything is made up of doesn’t die, instead it becomes something else. Life feeds life. My work is more than paying attention to beauty. It’s a kind of devotion to seeing beauty and holiness in everything there is, even in the hard things that arise.

The god of dirt
came up to me many times and said
so many wise and delectable things, I lay
on the grass listening
to his dog voice,
crow voice,
frog voice; now,
he said, and now,
and never once mentioned forever
— Mary Oliver, Dreamwork

I believe that it is helpful and even healthy to recognize and contemplate death. Recognizing that death comes to everything makes me want to make the most of the time I have. I don’t fear death. However the last part of my life goes I hope to continue to see beauty and be grateful for this wondrous life.

In the end, these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go? — Buddhist teaching

I imagine, whatever I experience as I age, I can learn something. I hope to greet my own death when it arrives with curiosity and joy. Perhaps I will ask myself, “Looking back on your life, what surprised you?”

May you walk in beauty.