Up Close

It takes time to get close, to people and to flowers.  You have to pay attention, using all your senses, in order to really see.  Sometimes the prickly spines are the first things you notice, and you move away.  But then you are likely to miss the beauty and the unique qualities only visible when you get up close…nose to nose.

Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven’t time, and to see takes time – like to have a friend takes time.
Georgia O’Keeffe

Whenever I get my macro lens out, I think of Georgia O’Keeffe and her flowers.  I love the way she captured the inner beauty of flowers rather than the view most people see.  My camera helps me do that.  You may notice that I have a tendency to photograph the same thing over and over again.  I notice it…a fascination that keeps bringing me back to a particular subject.  It was definitely like that with dandelions.  (When I searched my blog for dandelions, I came up with 6 posts!)

In the past few weeks it’s been prickly pear cactus that keeps catching my eye.  Prickly pears are common in these parts.  And mostly they are ordinary flat round green pads with sharp spines. Some people like to deface them by carving their initials in them, scarring the plant for a very long time.  And right now, they are in bloom, sporting beautiful yellow and pinkish blossoms and they’re beautiful!

So each time I see a prickly pear blooming, I find myself capturing a new photo.  I watched a bee dive headfirst into a bloom over the weekend…and seem to disappear deep inside.  I noticed yellow and pink blossoms on the same plant.

And then I got up close.  Using my macro I leaned in close and got to know this magnificent plant in new ways.

Each angle revealing something new.

I looked from the outside in,

and from the inside out.

And even this dried up blossom, well past its prime, displays the hints of past glory in its dignified demise.

Getting up close to the prickly pear reminds me of my students in the springtime.  They are blooming too.  And I’ve had all year to get up close, beyond the spines, and get to know them and support them as learners and people.  And I wonder if nobody really sees them either…they are so small, as Georgia O’Keeffe points out.  And the abilities of children are often underestimated.  It takes time to get up close and really see each student as a complex, beautiful, unique individual who will bloom on her/his own timeline.  Luckily, I get that chance in my classroom, even without my camera!