Re-sensitising…
Faster, brighter, higher, more dramatic, more sensationalist…always MORE!
Whether in movies, documentaries, dialogue or photography it is often purported that modern audiences have incredibly short attention-spans. In an attempt to mitigate that, there is a trend towards sensationalism and extremes, and herein lies the rub. My objection is that this tendency normalises outliers and desensitises us to what is normal and realistic, especially when it comes to representing the natural world. Constant exposure to eye-popping content numb our senses and blunt our ability to recognise, let alone appreciate things we did not that long ago.
I often question whether audiences became…or were made this way. Is the tail possibly wagging the dog?
Since when is the natural, authentic truth of this stupendously extraordinary world “not enough”? Does anyone have the right to diminish the wondrousness of reality and replace it with some conjured exaggerated and contrived replica? Suggesting that anything less-than isn’t worthy of our awe…
Time to reconsider.
As a photographer I am always aiming to represent nature and life as truthfully as I can, unless creating an arty image with the express intention of highlighting a specific/ethereal attribute. Setting up compositions by manipulating subjects so as to “create” realism is not in my purview. What fulfils me on a spiritual level, way beyond human creativity, are those fortuitous finds of unlikely and uncontrived reality.
Following are a few examples of seemingly banal or boring subjects (compared to what qualifies to go viral these days) which stirs me very deeply. These are honest and true, in-situ presentations of what we encountered whilst exploring nature in all her spectacular facets.
Noticing this tiny fig’s inverted flower (“fruit”) impaled on the spiky leaf-tip of a Phragmites reed in the Selati River on Selati Game Reserve, sent my imagination racing. It probably got dislodged from its branch by a Green Pigeon enjoying the feast, and plummeted below. Now here is where my mind visualised this in slow-motion…rotating around its own axis as it tumbled 2…4…6…8…10m…all the while being subjected to possible trajectory changes due to wind, and Coriolis-effect ;-), to precisely come to skewer itself on the reed. Imagine the shock-waves running straight down the fibres of the reed-leaf with increased force until the weakest point gave way to the impact…but not before the tip penetrated deep enough to retain the fig in position. Is this not enough of a miraculous event to justify our wonder?
Some years ago we were on a mekoro camping trip in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and whilst on one of the islands I turned my head back from where we’d been walking, only to notice this scene above. An almost inverse mirrored image…Even for the non-religious, “On earth as it is in heaven” must be the appropriate phrase for such a scene.
In Ruaha National Park in Tanzania there was a similar repeat of the same concept…
We could’ve walked past this small batch of Hibiscus blossoms…but decided to apportion some of our attention to them and voila, these tiny but spectacular Jewel Beetles were revealed. Finding them naturally in-situ makes for such rewarding photography! Note the yellow pollen grains on its thorax and the petals…by feeding on pollen and petals they inadvertently also act as pollinators. The iridescent colouration is due to minuscule structures on their exoskeleton which refracts and reflects light, and not from any pigmentation.
Walking in Tuli in Botswana on a tributary to the Limpopo, we investigated a strange-looking plant. After discovering it had a milky latex, we looked for other defining features so as to more easily identify it later. There were a couple of blossoms which eventually helped us identify it as Calotropis gigantea…the little flower which however drew my attention and imagination, was this one. Despite the fairly breezy conditions, it managed to precariously settle into the mother-plant’s palm, symbolic of being held and nurtured.
Still in Tuli after a truly good start to the rainy season with carpets of wild flowers, I was out with my macro-lens just after a heavy shower. Photographing the plethora of different blossoms saw me flitting from one to the next like a butterfly. It was only once back at camp when scrutinising each image carefully that I noticed something really exciting which I missed entirely! Highly disappointed that the initial image of the flower resulted in an out-of-focus spider, I retraced my footsteps to the exact flower where this tiny little Crab-spider was hiding. Waiting in ambush on a beautiful Heliotrope or “String-of-Stars”, their camouflage is cryptically so superb that it deceives pollinating insects, being distracted by the nectar.
Despite the high wildlife populations, incredible landscapes, spectacular forests and amazing birding in Ruaha National Park in Southern Tanzania, it was this backlit hairy tendril-branches of an otherwise inconspicuous Combretum shrub, which captured my eye this afternoon! It doesn’t have to walk or fly…
Sitting with a pride of lion on the upper Mwagusi River Valley close to Ikuka Falls in Ruaha one early morning, I became distracted. Noticing the shadows cast by suspended Sausage Tree fruit on the mother-plant’s trunk made me ponder. I am no parent…but am sure there is some philosophical metaphor here…
Further South in Makuleke, Northern Kruger, this tiny flower dropped and somehow got entangled in a spiderweb which arrested its fall in suspended animation. For the life of me I cannot remember which tree this blossom is from…but that in no shape or form diminishes the magnificence of this special scene!
Back on Selati, the advent of our rainy season saw insects out en-force. Mopane worms come from one of the owl-moths which lay their eggs on the leaves of their larval food-plant, the Mopane tree. During one of our walks recently I specifically looked for eggs to photograph during the day as previously I’d only photographed them at night. Finding this little cluster on a lit portion of a Mopane leaf was such a boon. Note their shadows being cast on the leaf blade. To some, these may “just” be eggs…they however signal the beginning of an incredible cycle, something much greater than just the sum of their parts…watch this space for a dedicated piece in the near future.
Manually manipulating subjects in order to suit a specific narrative or amplifying purely for the sake of, many might not frown upon…consider however how this could desensitise us to the REAL subtle magic which surrounds us everyday, the magic we are led to believe requires enhancement.
All we have to do is remember…and recalibrate what it is we deem worthy of our awe…a re-sensitising.
Yours in reality,