They say as a photographer, always carry your camera, just in case, but I have trouble doing that on a regular basis. I appreciate the incentive that this project gave me. I've never been one to shoot things like sunsets – I figure those have been photographed so many times, so much better than I could ... why start? I'd rather shoot local events or people, that are unique and are something those people would enjoy having a copy of ... But now I had a "reason" to go shoot. And my eyes were opened. All of a sudden I had an incentive, and I started noticing everything in a different light. Cloud shapes. Patterns of vegetables at the farmer's market. The intricacies of a flower bloom. The power of a thunderstorm. All around I was seeing the beauty of God's creation, from the tiny to the immense.
I was feeling bad that I hadn't gotten the day I had hoped to focus on a local destination like the botanical gardens or the zoo ... but I realized I didn't need that trip. My trip started as a quick drive home from my daughter's school. Then I found the mushroom circle. There had been several days of heavy rain and I noticed circles of mushrooms popping up in fields near forests. What's up with that? Quoting from
MushroomExpert.com (really!): "When the substrate is evenly composed – that is, when the food supply is constant and uninterrupted--the mycelium (the underground root colony of the mushrooms) grows ever – outward, leaving behind the nutrient – poor substrate it has consumed and pushing into new territory." I just found it fascinating to discover this "fairy ring", as some call them, growing in a clearing beside a forest. Next I found a mound of dirt that seemed to hint at the base ingredients of the first days of Creation. Follow that with a sunset, topped off with a deer crossing the road, and it was an amazing illustration of God's wonders, all in one trip!
Gen 1:16 – And God made the two great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night – and the stars ... After reading this verse, photographing the moon took on a different meaning. It wasn't emotional or anything like that, but this realization that I'm looking directly at God's 4th day of creation. Nothing has changed. It's like a museum – piece under glass, but it's right there in front of me, as He created it, unchanged.
The night of the storm will be my strongest memory of this project. We had a huge storm system pass through the area. But that night I was focused on the full moon peaking through the clouds. I started shooting long exposures when I noticed a huge wall of clouds about to obscure the moon. I kept sitting, shooting, and watching the sky develop. More clouds, then off in the far distance, flashes of light behind the clouds. A storm was on its way. Each exposure was lasting about 8 seconds, and as more lightning developed, I was hoping that I'd capture some light shows in a frame. When I see some of those images now, I feel I'm peering into just a glimpse of God's indescribable power during Creation! ... and it never rained on me ...
I'm looking forward to this series. I wonder what I'll learn and what questions might get answered. Today's science seems to find more and more reasons to discredit God's creation. I'm a Christian, but also don't feel I need to shun science simply because it challenges some of my beliefs. This project and series have given me new reasons to learn more for myself and look at God's Creation with fresh awe and wonder ...
- Kurt Heinecke
