Take a Walk

As part of one of her classes, my daughter is doing organized nature walks.  The concept is a bit odd (as far as classes go) but it is an English class and the idea is to spend some time in nature so you will go home and write about it.  It gets even more odd when you consider she is the one doing it for credit but here I am the one writing about it. 

I am not a runner, never have liked it, not even when I was in the Marines.  But I do enjoy spending time walking/ hiking through the woods.  There is something about being away from the trappings of man, alone with your thoughts, that gives you space for self reflection. 

As always walks like this require a camera as well (I know, trappings of man).  The camera makes it easier for you to remember a certain setting or image from the walk that you might want to bring up again later. 

I was playing around with the editing a bit on some of the pics from this latest walk and noticed a few things.  From a writer's perspective you can gain different insights from the same picture based on how it is composed.  In this instance I am looking at the differences between black and white and color. 

When you look at these two pictures the scene is essentially the same.  The only real difference between the two of them is color vs. black and white.  For me personally I find that black and white tends to speak to something on a more primal level within our psyche. 

The color pic feels safer.  The color grounds it into our reality.  It lacks the surreal quality you find in the black and white. 

When you approach these images from a writer's viewpoint you can broaden your approach to the work.  There is more than just the purely visual clues, now there are emotional elements you can draw from as well.   

 

Take a walk, you never know what you might find.