Abstractions and Distractions: Searching for Beauty in the Ordinary
Patterns, textures, and shapes are all around us. Whether it’s some leaves on the ground or some avocado toast masquerading as sushi, I try to stay alert for beauty and hidden surprises. One of the advantages of having a camera phone all the time is the ability to snap a photo when I see something worthwhile. Some of these are abstract and others are things that caught my attention while I was passing nearby.
What do these pictures have in common? I did not seek out any of them. They came to me as I was waiting or casually walking somewhere. And as I noticed the beauty, I pulled out my camera for the snap. Several of these are relatively recent, while others go back a few years. Some are plain, some flashy, and together they span various environments.
(1) Shelf Mushrooms
The original image is above. Here, I made it monochromatic and then tinted it blue, just for fun. I always love seeing shelf mushrooms. They have a nice look and they are good at recycling nutrients from old wood back into the forest. Some woodland fungi are edible and others are poisonous; I’ll leave that for the forest creatures to determine.
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(2) Autumn Leaves on a Street
Concrete sidewalks, manicured lawns: it looks like suburbia. Cover it with leaves and you have an interesting composition, even if it's fairly plain.
(3) Ivy
If you’ve ever tried to take care of a yard that has ivy, you might agree with me that this stuff is a pain in the ass. Whatever you try to do to eliminate ivy, it always seems to come back. But it’s also quite pretty when it grows upward on a fence or tree trunk, which must be why someone planted it there in the first place. Beautiful leaves, colors, and patterns.
(4) Beach Stuff
Some children had strewn their stuff on the beach. Then they ran off to play nearby. I liked the composition with these minion sandals, even though the light was too flat for a great picture.
(5) Mud Stains
These are some mud stains on the fender of a parked car. As I recall, I was waiting for some other family members to get out of the car as we were visiting some place. Bored, I noticed the muddy fender and took a snap. It’s an ordinary image, yet what makes modern paint splash art any more profound than mud stains?
(6) Avocado Toast
Or is it sushi? Beautiful colors and presentation. I’m sure it was delicious to eat also, though it wasn’t mine. Living in California, I’ve been eating avocado all my life, but it’s really nice to see how popular this food has become in other regions. It is a healthy food, though $11 for some avo toast still seems excessive. It’s fairly simple to make at home.
(7) Square Peg in a Round Hole?
I think not. There’s been much ado about this expression, since a square peg does not fit well in a round hole. But that’s such a linear way to approach the situation. Think outside of the box. If the square peg or post doesn’t fit, then why not chisel yourself a square hole? Genius!
(8) Some Grasses
In my region, winters are wet (if we’re lucky) and summers are dry (always a certainty). I love the spring colors of vibrant green grasses, plants, and trees. They also are pretty in their golden brown hues later on once the sun has baked them dry. Here, you can see some foxtails and rye.
(9) Under a Hot Tin Roof
This was at a farm we were visiting. The weather was exceedingly hot. While the horse barn offered some shade, those metal roofs can make it cook underneath. The structure of the ceiling and rafters made for a nice pattern.
(10) Swan’s Nest
A few years ago, I was waiting at a bus stop near a bridge. When I looked over the side, there was a creek below with some reeds on the bank. And you can see what I spied there in the reeds: a swan’s nest! These are such elegant birds and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them nesting before. Nice surprise.
(11) Lots of Garlic
Outside a market, someone had a large crate of garlic. It’s a great way to keep Dracula away. It also helps the immune system and helps prevent inflammation, not to mention that it makes most foods taste a whole lot better. An extra clove of garlic will improve most dishes. Visually, it’s much more stunning when the tops are braided or twisted together, but seeing this much garlic in one place made me want to take a picture.
(12) Stripeys
What a perfect name for these fish. This was at an aquarium. We had just about finished there, but as I was waiting for my family near the restroom, I noticed these patterns and took a quick snap.
(13) A Rose By Any Other Name
Ask this fly whether it would smell just as sweet. When roses are in full bloom, it’s hard to conceive of anything much more beautiful. They all have a pretty scent as well, but often it’s the lesser beauties with the deepest aroma. This rose had enough to attract a fly. Job well done, since anything with wings can be a pollinator.
(14) Stick House
On a hike in the forest, there was this creepy house that someone had built with sticks. It’s pretty neat, actually, but still creepy in that I don’t know who built it or why. Blair Witch stuff. Nevertheless, it’s a testament to the time and dedication someone took to collect and assemble all of these sticks into a structure.
(15) Reflections
The wind and sun were making nice patterns in the water of a river beyond this thicket of bushes. If I’d had time and wanted to climb around, I probably could have found a better vantage point for the perfect composition. But I love the light and patterns here.
All images taken by the author or family members (the latter used with permission).
Beauty is often near us, you only want to notice it. Often this happens in those moments when we are calm, waiting for someone or walking. Leisurely thoughts set us up to pay attention to simple beauty and look at familiar things from a new angle.
Love the photos! There really is something...well...beautiful, about finding beauty in the ordinary. Kudos to you for seeing it; so many do not.
First of all i really liked your simplicity of your words means, as you said you always capture the nature and always use the opportunity of keeping cell phone to capture. And yes, nature is magic and we can get opportunity to capture the nature's beauty for life long because nature always transform into different faces and we can always get the essence of refreshment.
First of all i got confused to watch the beauty of first picture and amazing to know that these mushrooms are growing on woods. And whenever i see mushrooms then it reflects as tiny Umbrella's of nature to me.
And the magic of Autumn Season is Autumn Leaves and whenever we go out for walk in Autumn Season then firstly we see the beauty of fallen leaves and literally it's always reflects as nature always holds and plans for the decorative stuffs for every season.
Swan’s Nest is most beautiful aspect and i can connect with this for sure because from two years two birds come to our window and create Nest and they give birth to birds and then they flew away and these days always gives great and emotional essence and that also gives the essence of great relationship between human beings and nature's creatures.
Thanks for sharing this post with us and wishing you an great day. Stay blessed. 🙂
Thanks for your comments on each of those. Birds' nests are very special to watch if you are fortunate enough to have that opportunity. We've had doves nesting in our yard and it's just amazing to watch the whole process take place over a period of weeks.
Welcome and yes, i feel fortunate to see the whole Nesting Phase of birds and also that creates an essence of pleasure on emotional level. 🙂
Aw, such pretty pictures!
We share a hobby! Or a way of life! I've known people who walk miserablyh from one place to another and don't pay much attention to what's on the way. Sometimes people describe the world as a dull place, maybe too much stuff, but that's the beauty of it.
Even though I have depression, I still enjoy life; it's still "duller", but everything around me has its own charm. I had to force myself at first but then I found myself in a mood like this very post. I just sit down, look around and enjoy the feeling. Perhaps it's melancholic; I will have to go, never to be here again, perhaps. But every centimeter of world holds a place for my thoughts to go wild.
<3 Thanks for the beautiful pictures.
If you can find beauty or truth in everyday life, sometimes that spark carries through and makes it a good day.
Your Picture is very nice. like the picture talking, see the picture I can imagine the real situation.
You are the best.....
Beauty surrounds us at all times, life is perfect in its aesthetics and composition, I wish we could all be alert, aware of the beauty and perfection that the universe offers us every day, but unfortunately we are always immersed in the past or the present, and the modern world seems to be made to keep us away from our environment, distracted by electronic devices.
We are trying as an artistic collective to represent or embellish reality through our creations, and in Steem, forming the CELF team, we try to find the artists and creatives who daily express their works on the platform, we want them to grow through it and reach a wider audience.
I hope someday you can take a look at the work we're doing.
Greetings.
Sounds great. I will take a look soon.
Yes @donkeypong! This people is helping artist and non profit initiatives like ours and too many others!
hello @donkeypong, I hope you are all right, we've left you a message on steem.chat, read it when you can, cheers ;)
Ohh look look your first picture looks like your first picture the same capture we have the same view what if i told you that i toke my pictures by smartphone take a look at the rest of my works
There is more and more, but unfortunately some people here on steem blockchain doesn't appreciate and care about my works but im still proud of myself i have much talents im a singer songwriter guitarist painter writer and smartphone photographer i become an expert in the smartphone photography as you can see on my work sorry if i bothering you by my story haha you know im a talker i speak too much
nice click
Uve got good talents there, I would like to know more about you!
I followed you.
Keep posting qulity post.
I remember the Blue movie played by Leonardo DiCaprio. There was one scene where he ate mushrooms that contained toxins and made him hallucinations. For me, the fungus has a history of the past because as a child like to look for mushrooms after the rice harvest season ends.
The arrangement of mushroom trees with various shapes and colors are very beautiful.
That's nice. In our area, there are both edible and poisonous mushrooms, so each year there is a news story about someone mistaking the wrong ones. Foragers need to know their shrooms.
@donkeypong, You caught amazing and tremendous naturalize clicks through various environments. This wanna magical properties of the nature. I'm wondering to see these clicks. We have only see very few things of the nature. Most of things hide from us. I never seen some clicks before but now i updated much better with description. Stripeys clicks so curious and nice sharpness indeed. Autumn Leaves on a Street and Ivy has amazing creativity. All once touching my heart deeply. Thanks Tom.
Great collection of photos... amazing that they were all taken by you or your family! Thanks for sharing.
If you take enough shots, then you can assemble a collection by going through past files (which is mostly what I did here, adding a few recent ones).
At frist, thank you and you share your hobby Pictures of your cotton mushroom are beautiful. Mashroom contains a lot of vitamins. But many people do not like mushrooms. Most of the tree leaves fall in the autumn. These are known as the Planting Trees. In the autumn there is a new form of nature. When the kids were taken to open the shoe in the sea, their minds were delighted and you did not forget to take these shoes to the camera. Avocado toast is a favorite meal of Japan's people. They like to eat sushi very much. These holes are the habitat of many animals during the night. Stay safe safely. These grasses are very beautiful to see. A lot of food choices for cows. These grasses are needed to create a playground. The smile seems to be in the position that he would lay eggs or he would not sit like this. Anyway, she will lay eggs in her house and raise the baby.
Garlic is a spicy food ingredient. The use of garlic as cooking spice is coming from the beginning of creation. Not only to increase the taste of the cooking, the nutrients of garlic have reached garlic in one of the list of spices. The benefits of sunsana are so much as cooking as well as cooking as well as the augmentation of the health of garlic. Many years ago, garlic has been used as a medicine. Almost every nation in the world has been using garlic to cure various diseases. Garlic contains plenty of moisture, protein, fat, mineral fiber and carbohydrate. Vitamin and mineral contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin C Besides, there are small amounts of iodine, sulfur and chlorine in garlic. Playing garlic on empty stomach removes diseases as well as resistance to various diseases.
That's a lot of commentary. You missed my point on the avocado toast, but I appreciate the rest of it!
The name of the avocado toast is the first I heard from you. I do not know how it feels to eat. And I can not say it when it is found in our country. But seeing the pictures of avocado toast, my love for it has grown. Be happy to know how it feels to eat@donkeypong dear sir,