Undramatic Scapes

We recently spent a week in the mountains. We hiked. We camped. We stood admiring broad vistas of indescribable beauty and grandiosity. 

I took a lot of photos.

No really: a lot of photos.

And mixed in among the obvious well-metered shots of the mountain landscapes and epic sunsets, colourful wildflowers, and happenstance wildlife encounters, I also made sure that I took a lot of photos of the mundane. 

I snapped shots of leaves, and moss and bark.

I aimed my camera at interesting shadows.

I photographed light pressing between cluttered stands of trees.

I zoomed in on interesting textures in the stone and boulders and cliffs.

I even stuck a camera into a gushing mountain stream and took images of the bubbles tracing over the rocks.

While the other tourists were standing with their camera pointed out at the obvious vistas, I was the weird guy who did the same and then went to pointing it at the vegetation or the rocks, too.

I have hinted previously at the value of finding beauty in the less obvious, and that story comes from seeing that beauty where others often forget to look for it… because none of those photos were unconscious or happenstance. I went there seeking to find an uncommon perspective.  Sure, some of it is far less dramatic than the monumental curves of a world class mountain range, but I might also argue that it’s no less interesting or important.