Tags
bark, bush track, fungi, grass, leaves, spotted gums, wattle
I want to be in the bush, I don’t want to drive far, I’m fearful that closeby familiar bush won’t offer me anything. I’ve had that fear before, and it’s never justified. I decide to stop every twenty steps and photograph whatever offers itself. I’m astonished at the results. OK! So I don’t obey my own rules absolutely: sometimes I go a few paces back or forwards. Sometimes I’m forced to stop before the regulation 20 by something irresistible. Whenever I look around and think “Rats: just more dead leaves”, I find a couple of small hakeas, a mushroom shoving up the dead leaves, black resin which looks like a skeleton, a curl of bark around a stick. Always something. Old acquaintances: bark, flowers, fungi, desiccated leaves, traces, tracks, spotted gums. And new subjects: bush layers; landscape seen through a veil of foliage; grasses and fern. I even manage to catch birds at play in a string of mud pools.
Here’s the haul from my first “every 20 steps” photo shoot. And no. It is NOT the beginning of a series! Maybe the beginning of a habit, but not a series. Definitely not a series.
snippetsandsnaps 
Now this is a brilliant idea, though to be honest I probably do all my walks in bursts of twenty steps as I am forever stopping to photograph something!! Love the variety you found, your bush looks awfully dry though.
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It is dry – and you’re in the lushness of a northern spring so it would look even drier! I too amble and stop, but 20 paces focused my attention on a spot that wouldn’t necessarily have caught my eye. I confess I got a bit impatient with the rules at times, and I didn’t play on the return journey. Although that could be interesting too. I suspect my attention span is limited these days.
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Dry here actually Meg – April has been very strange weather-wise, but apparently we have cold winds approaching from the north this week. Typical as we are away for a spring break shortly!
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I was once reading a book by a small lake in the middle of the forest. I was still and suddenly the wood embraced me. I have this feeling that when we walk, nature is timid, it watches us – intruders, as we enter its terrain. But when we stop for a while, the life of the forest resumes its natural activity. Birds may come really near us and other animals too. I am hoping to experience this more this year. Suwalki is surrounded by nature. I try to cycle as much as possible. Recently, when I was cycling, a doe crossed my way.
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You write so poetically, and remind me of the pleasures of reading in the bush: the reading slows down too. Every time you glance up, you see things more clearly. You must’ve been delighted by your encounter with the doe. Once upon a time when I was playing recorder on the headland (my son exiled me from the house!) I had a conversation with a bird – I played a few notes, it sang a few notes.
You’ve moved again? What took you to Suwalki?
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Yes, I agree about the effect of reading. Talking to a bird sounds wonderful!
I have been in Suwalki for more than a year now. I moved to be closer to my roots. In my case, it’s nature and my beloved relative (who is gone now).
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It’s such a great idea – 20 steps – an exercise in noticing. You’ve made a visual feast out of an “ordinary” 😉 walk. I love the black resin. It looks so extraordinary against the mat dusty ground.
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I couldn’t believe it was resin, especially when I enlarged it and noticed what looked like leg bones was inside the long one. It was certainly an exercise in noticing.
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Ah, The Discipline, Meg! Certainly bore fruit…..
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Interesting watching myself. Once I’d created the rules I wanted to break them!
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Haha, you contrary creature!
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I’m going to try it in the city when I’m in Melbourne in May. Might be a bit more difficult when I have to negotiate people and not just a dirt track.
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Have fun!
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I can imagine the resin turning to gemstones like amber in a million years. I used to do something like this, but taking pics of what I could find in a hundred steps. I didn’t find as much diversity as you though!
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I began with ten steps, but needed to pace it out a bit more. Did you post any of your hundred steps? And where were you doing it? I was astonished by what I saw, and convinced that even with my eyes skinned I’d have seen little of it without The Discipline.
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What a great idea to help us slow down in order to really see. So many treasures here. Love the ruby berries, the New Holland Honeyeater and so much more. Thank you so much for sharing.
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I’m beginning to capture birds at last: maybe the birdwalk unlocked something. These bird photos aren’t fantastic but they’re not the worst I’ve taken. The green bark of the spotted gum was a surprise, and especially for you!
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Very fruitful. I’ll have to try it one day.
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My problem is not mandating it!
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