Category: Photo Submissions

Nature-led Community Photos: A Tree

~ melaniereynolds ~ 37 Comments

My sincerest gratitude to those of you who participated in our latest photo submission, A Tree. If you participated in both this photo submission and last month’s submission, Unknown Path, then you have double my gratitude! Please partake of your favorite hot or cold beverage and bask in the glow of my love and gratitude! I hope you can feel it!

A “Beach Tree” on the English coast By Inexplicable Device, https://inexplicabledevice.blogspot.com/

We start our tree tour with this lovely “Beach Tree” interpretation shared with us by Inexplicable Device after he’d switched back from Selkie form.

Not knowing whether I was going to be a stickler for pictures of literal trees only, he also provided us with this dizzying gaze up into some kind of old pine tree. The image reminds me that some tree species can develop such thick lateral branches as to develop their own microecosystems on a single branch! I read about this phenomenon years ago in a National Geographic magazine. I will do further research in an effort to provide a proper post about it, because I think it is a fascinating topic.

A Pine Tree in Norfolk, England, UK By Inexplicable Device, https://inexplicabledevice.blogspot.com/

Aspen Trees North Shore MN USA By Kelli Fika

Banyan Tree, Norton Museum, West Palm Beach, FL, USA Mary Reynolds

Magnolia tree Southern Pines NC By Cathy Litchfield, https://Grounded-Wisdom.com

Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa, Castle Ward (a National Trust property), County Down, Northern Ireland By Ashley, https://8-arrows.com

Sycamore Tree, New York, NY, USA By Kerfe Roig, methodtwomadness

Bark close-up

Christmas Bush or Pohutukawa (Maori name) or Metrosideros kermadecensis somewhere in New Zeland By Dinah, https://moreidlethoughts.wordpress.com/

Java cassia (aka pink shower, apple blossom) tree Cassia javanica, somewhere in Australia, By Dinah, https://moreidlethoughts.wordpress.com/

North Devon England, UK, Spring 2022 By Ms Scarlet, https://wonky-words.com/blog/

Longwood Gardens, Kenneth Sqaure, PA,USA By Mistress Maddie, http://mistressmaddie.blogspot.com/

Added @ 8:30pm PST – New Addition – My apologies to Lisa. I forgot this was still in my other email box!

Baobab  tree, Botswana, Africa, August 2019.  Photo by Lisa Troute, Jupiter, FL

This concludes our photo journey of trees for the September photo submissions.

Should we do more Monthly Photo Submission prompts?

(*Please let me know if I’ve accidently missed a submission or need to make a correction.)

Exercise: A study in patience

I’m going to pick a tree and take a picture of it during each season. If I take the first picture this week for Fall, by this time next year I’ll have a seasonal progression of the tree. If you like this idea, feel free to do it as well. You can share your tree’s seasonal progression here or post it on your own blog and send me an email, so I know to look for it and reblog.

Thank you for stopping by and being part of the Nature-led community!

Nature-led Community Photos: Unknown Paths

~ melaniereynolds ~ 22 Comments

My sincerest appreciation to everyone that submitted photos for our very first photo collection! Thank you for helping to make Nature-led.org a shared community endeavor!

Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, USA. By Kelly Filka

Durham County England, UK. View 1 By Leslie, https://moment-by-moment.blog/

Same path different angle, the blurring creates a trick of the eyes that makes it feel more like an illusion.

Durham County England, UK. View 2 By Leslie

Inca Path Machu Picchu, Peru. Oct 2015 By Lisa Troute

North Devon England, UK, Spring 2022 By Ms Scarlet, https://wonky-words.com/blog/

North Norfolk, England, UK, April 2022 By Inexplicable DeVice, https://inexplicabledevice.blogspot.com/

Southern Pines, NC, USA. By Cathy Litchfield, Grounded-wisdom.com https://grounded-wisdom.com/2022/08/08/i-am-the-tree/

Mistress Borghese grants us a playful image with this cheeky offering…

Poconos Mountains, Pennsylvania, USA. Near Leighton (1) By Mistress Borghese, http://mistressmaddie.blogspot.com/

Poconos Mountains, Pennsylvania, USA. Near Leighton (2) By Mistress Borghese

Our Poet-in-Residence, Patricia Lezama, concludes our post of unknown paths with this treasure and some insightful words on the topic.

Snow Path in Washington, USA. Feb 2019 By Patricia Lezama, https://patlezama.com

Sometimes the paths are shown as a blank sheet of paper for you to stamp them with your steps. Fast or serene, you might stop or follow to raise your eyes and admire your surroundings.

We take selfies for us to remember what we were and where, or to publish them on social networks. Perhaps to share a piece of joy of the wonders of our planet with our loved ones. Or for those unknown and farthest away to be delighted with our tastes and places. To belong, or to be recognized in some circles. There are no human faces in this picture to guess the emotions, there are no emojis that contain possible feelings. But there must be a word to name this snow, in a tribe that I don’t know quite yet. 

A word to name this feeling of invisibility, the no presence in that present. I was there on that landscape, breathing with the evergreens, those trees that don’t change color to match the weather. 

My saliva had the flavor of pine reaching my belly. Savoring my own cold infusion. The friction of my pores with winter clothes exhaled a mist that warmed my whole body. I was there and I smiled while posing for this picture, my hands were still warm, capturing the steps non taken in a past full of new snow, over a future to be traveled.

Wayfarer, there is no path. By Antonio Machado. 

Wayfarer, there is no way. Make your way by going farther.*

[ Original: CAMINANTE NO HAY CAMINO | Antonio Machado – Poesía Española (espoesia.com)

English translation poem: [Traveler, your footprints] by Antonio Machado | Poetry Foundation]

https://youtu.be/U7b4HMIZJWM
*a phrase from the song Cantares, by Joan Manuel Serrat, honoring the poet Machado

Have a lovely, day!

Reminder: There is still time to join us for September’s photo submission. “A Tree” Due: September 30th. Submissions will be posted October 1st. Email to: natureledlife@gmail.com

*If I made any errors or you would like changes to your photo submission information above. Please let me know by email or in the comments. Thank you!