Nature is a Homecoming
A photo essay in four seasons
There were 4849 photos on my camera’s memory card when I finally got around to downloading them. I never go on a walk without my camera and, well, I go on a lot of walks. I have a Nikon D3400 DSLR that came with two lenses, a standard 18–55 mm general purpose lens and 70–300 mm zoom lens that’s better for distance shots. I only ever use the zoom lens because I like to take photos of birds.
My husband bought me the camera in 2018 as an anniversary gift. I’d been taking photos of birds with my daughter Ana’s point and shoot camera and he knew I wanted something a bit better.
The zoom lens isn’t quite up to the task of shooting birds, but that hasn’t stopped me from filling my camera’s memory card — and my computer — with thousands upon thousands of blurry pictures of birds on branches, birds in flight, birds in grasslands, birds perched on my Nectarine tree. Here are eight blurry cardinals in that very tree.
Over the years, I’ve expanded my photographic repertoire beyond birds. I take pictures of trees, trails, mushrooms, ferns, the neighbor's cat— anything and everything in nature. I feel compelled to do this, as…
