Gratitude Monday: view from the ground

I confess that I still haven’t got past using my new camera in AUTO mode. And we have not exactly had prime shooting weather here in the District They Call Columbia. However, there have been some days that just yell, “Grab your camera and come shoot!”

Yesterday was one of them, and I didn’t have to go far—just to my back yard. I did have to change my perspective tho.

Photography is all about perspective, the conscious choice we make to view something from this point or that one. A week ago, I shot the winter aconite from a height of about half a meter, to catch the snow on it. Yesterday, I took a worm’s eye view. Where you can see the winter sun shining through the petals.

Decades ago, a photography professor advised his students to pause after we’d lined up our shot (back in the days when we used separate light meters and film in cameras, children) and look around to see if there wasn’t a better angle to capture what we wanted. I’ve tried to apply that suggestion to more than just photos, but practicing the art reminds me to do it when I get too stuck in a course of action.

And consciously choosing different perspectives is my gratitude today.

Also, winter aconite. So tiny and so beautiful, whichever way you look at them.