What do we miss when we do not look?
I always wonder about this when I see the smallest of birds fly in front of me with only a few taking notice. How much does the average person miss because they are either too tired to notice or not interested enough? How sad... But this sadness is actually not founded, as people who do not care to miss, are actually not missing out on anything.
What do we miss when we do not look?
It all depends on our disposition, do we want to look?
For those that do not want to look will not miss out on anything.
But life is more colourful to those who want to look, to those poetic few who appreciate the colour of flowers and the vibrancy and liveliness of life itself.
Recently, I found myself transfixed, staring and running after the most beautiful southern double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus) that acted like the little acrobat it always is! I even managed to get some "bird butt", a rare but cute and fluffy sight when you find it.
As usual, I disregarded everything around me, and I tried to capture this little friend in the frame, with the beautiful and colourful flowers framing it. But as usual, the small bird darted across a very big area, from flower to flower, like a bee or insect.
It hung upside down from small branches, getting to the best flowers possible. Only it can pull off these types of stunts! Would you hang upside down for the sweetest nectar and honey?
Fleeting moments of joy, fleeting moments of beauty, as they fly away just like the bird I tried to photograph. But it is not about just capturing it, collecting vast amounts of moments; instead, it is about appreciating the moment, about taking it in so that it changes you.
While sipping on some fine wine, like this little friend sipping on its fine nectar, we can contemplate life, we can write poetry about the innocent and small moments. We can philosophise and we can paint the most beautiful artwork. But the world will always be out there, beyond our grasp. We can merely try and appreciate the beauty, like the first sip of wine, like the first taste of well-prepared food, or the first sight of the most colourful bird trying to sip nectar from the flowers in front of its beak.
I hope that you enjoyed this little bird flying around, performing its acrobat tricks to find the best flower, and the flowers that frame it.
For now, happy birding, and stay well.
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by the beauty of nature. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens.
I often wonder that lately and @traisto too, but for much different and I have to admit, more selfish reasons. The thought came to my mind watching hundreds of people walking in front of our workshop and not giving it a glimpse. Others are lost in their phone's screen, others having their head down looking at their shoes, others talking to the person next to them etc etc. The reasons are countless. But what is bugging me is wondering if it is our fault and we should have done better job for our visibility or if those people that don't look wouldn't have looked even if there were colourful dragons spitting fire on our doorstep!
Not the most relevant comment for your wonderful post but your opening line triggered a bunch of irrelevant thoughts :)
Your little friend is lovely and the pictures just great!
Cheers!
No, this is very relevant, even in its irrelevant state. Thank you so much for sharing this with me! I appreciate it. I can relate on so many levels, with my own writing going unnoticed by people (my academic articles) and my baking (some people just don't like bread!). And we always take it upon ourselves, we think we did something wrong. But we should always remember that life is just strange with people not caring, what goes on on their screens is more important, it is not about substance and things in themselves, but about appearances and how it makes them look, and a million other reasons.
But it all starts with slowing down, and appreciating what life is... Or so I believe.
Thank you! I guess that's why I shared this with you. I knew that I would hear a confirmation of my own thoughts :)
Cheers!
Sometimes, that can be a good thing, but sometimes also bad! I hope that in this case, it was a good thing. Keep well, my friend. May only good things cross your path, and may the challenges make you stronger.
I came here to read your reply and maybe reply to it but then I noticed your chat with @fotostef and I so love this chat between the two of you - it is very relatable with hubby being an indie author and always wondering what he didn't do or did wrong that his books are not selling more than they do and I had similar thoughts when I was still selling my photography prints. There is just this overload of information readily available for everyone and I feel like a part of the people live to just scroll and scroll without really noticing (us) and another part is trying so hard to ignore all the information in an effort to keep some sanity they are missing out on important, beautiful things. To find the balance will be magical.
Sorry for interjecting in your chat 😇
Thank you so much for this wonderful interjection! I feel the same in so many ways. It is crazy the amount of things we as humans produce on a daily basis, and as you say, it feels like scrolling is just an inherent part of it. And the crazy thing is creating quality content takes time, but modern-era brains want quick fixes and disregard the hard work that goes into creating anything really. I am in academia and "publish or perish" is a real threat to your career, but the consequence of this non-stop publishing of academic papers is that no one will ever really read your papers. I have published a couple of papers and since then I am sure no one even read it. There is this wonderful quote from the author Milan Kundera in his book Unbearable lightness of being, "Sheets of paper covered with words pile up in archives sadder than cemeteries, because no one ever visits them..."
Sorry about this long comment, I think I even lost the plot a bit!
Apologizing for a long comment?! Come on, don't apologize for that 😀. I'm certainly not an academic but that seems - hard and weird.
Anyhow, I like that quote, I really do, I need to write it down, it is good. Thanks for sharing it.
Quotes are sometimes wonderful small packets (or pockets) of knowledge! I always have a quote either hanging in my brain, or written down on pieces of paper.
I like interjections! After all isn't that what life is all about? Interjecting into each others life and moving on :)
Of course after 4 days that I am replying, the conversation has moved forward but I just wanted to tell you that I have read all of it and I find it great that this "meeting" happened without anyone really planned it!
I might as well add that although I was kind of "blaming" people that don't notice, I found myself at the other end of the equation just yesterday as I was the one not noticing, reminding my a Greek saying that can be translated roughly as
"eat a big bite but don't speak big words"
Cheers to both of you @fermentedphil @oceanbee :)
It sure is part of life. Yet, with blogging when I read people's comments and replies it sometimes feels like I'm an intruder into a private conversation. I usually do not reply unless it is really important to me - like this time 😀.
Don't be so hard on yourself for not noticing (something you wished you had noticed) because there is so much all around us all the time - it is hard.
Thank you so much @ewkaw for the curation! Always appreciated.
Wow, these photos (and that bird) are fantastic! I like to watch the birds around my plum tree, it's a relaxing time for me and and a source of inspiration for my artworks. 🐦
I can imagine that they inspire your art! They inspire me to make more garden space for them, with the garden almost being an "alive" art project.
Thank you so much @dimascastillo90! I really appreciate it.
You're always welcome @fermentedphil
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Thank you so much!
Wow, what an extraordinary bird display. The bird realizes that you are photographing it and tries a different style.
Thanks! For sure, it is a little performer by nature. Keep well!
You're welcome, brother.
Stunning pics! I love the ones where the bird hangs upside down 💚🐦
Same! It is really a fun bird to watch. Very playful.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the community.
It's very true what you say, there are many beautiful things in nature, and some people don't know how to appreciate it or see their surroundings better, and many beauties go unnoticed.
What a beautiful bird you present to us on this occasion
Beautiful photographs dear friend @fermentedphil
Thank you so much for the beautiful comment! I appreciate it. For sure, sometimes people just go about their ways and never notice things around them. Just like this little bird. Keep well and happy birding!
The photographer in me can sooo relate to this. I feel, know that there is always something we miss. I think it is part o f life though. There is so very much in this world that our brain, our senses would explode if we did.
Also
This can actually get dangerous, again thinking as a photographer. Think about it - you're totally focused on the bird, forget your surroundings and... trip over a rock, slide down a hill, get attached by xyz, the list is endless. Always, keep your surroundings in mind.
For sure! A photographs is not worth a life or injuries. Never. I think what I was trying to get at here was more metaphorical than factual. But so true!
And also for the overwhelming of the senses. Always a good example to use in first year philosophy classes, to teach that categories are important because if we could not discern things, we would be bombarded with sensory input and we would not know what to ignore and what to focus on.
But sometimes I wish I had special types of glasses on that take these photograph memories for me.