Spring Fever Part 3: Butter Fields and Alien Worlds
The beauty of rot, alien eyeballs and portals to other worlds
I tried to get into the house yesterday and something snapped. My key. It twisted like warm butter in the lock and came away in my hand. The other half is still there, so we get into the house via the back door now.
It felt like a good punchline to a series of recent mishaps. We got four parking tickets in four days for the car we borrowed because I confused a ‘1’ for an ‘I’ in the parking app. One of our windows came away in my hands while I was painting it. Earlier the lawnmower started screeching, smoking, then died.
So anything that slows me getting into the house before I break anything else is probably a good thing.
These are all silly modern life stresses. Lizard brain whirrs disapprovingly but, whenever I look out of the window or go for a walk, any stress melts away.
‘Butterfly Leaf’
Even rotting leaves, given the right amount of time in the sun, create beautiful tapestries. Like stories on a butterfly’s wing.
It is so beautiful here it almost feels scripted. Like Julie Andrews might appear, at any moment, from behind a rose bush and burst into song.
There are delicate little moments everywhere.
‘Soft Pink’
I’ve been getting more and more into macro recently.
Macro photography is a great way to dance with beautiful, alien worlds.
It’s my first Spring here in the countryside, rubbing shoulders with nature instead of pavement and there’s so much to discover.
In London I didn’t always feel I had the space to stop and appreciate these details. I felt as if I needed to hurry along.
‘Buttercup Sanctuary’
Buttercups are my new favourite thing. Tiny, little suns bursting out of the ground.
I believe it might be impossible to feel sad around them.
‘Pink Mountains’
If I look out of the window early in the morning I can see the sun rising over the valley. Sometimes the clouds dye pink.
At night we watch the two cows in the field out front nuzzling into each other’s necks.
‘Dreaming of Trumpets’
When I took the shot above I was balancing with one hand on a thick branch while I tried to shoot the stamens with the other.
I kept laughing because every time I got it in focus a gust of wind picked up, blew it and I had to start again. When I left, a bee, who had been waiting patiently, took his turn.
‘Pink and Green’
I’m trying to notice the little moments beyond the classic spring headliners like tulips, buttercups (I’m going to say buttercups a lot) and daisies.
Some of the fallen leaves and petals at this time of year have such a delicate feel to them against the forest floor.
‘Gold Dust’
This guy was drawn to the buttercup nectar and I was drawn to the flecks of pollen on his head, shimmering like gold dust.
I realise I have gone full buttercup in this photoset but I’m fully drunk on them.
‘Door to the Other Side’
Most days I walk past this door. It’s not part of any structure or building. Beyond is a sheer drop down a thick green mass of grass and heather. If a drunk burglar tried to break in they would be extremely disappointed.
It has a secret garden quality and I always day dream when I see it. A Narnia-like portal in the forest.
‘Blue and Red’
There’s a grandiose old building nearby with a red post box outside. It’s old, covered in mossy scabs and looks picture postcard.
I noticed some bright red tulips growing next to it so I spent a few minutes trying to get the red on red juxtaposition. The end result was ok but felt a bit stock photo-ey, so I lost the post box and tried a more stark, ant’s eye view of the tulips against the sky instead.
‘Sun Daisies’
On my way home I spotted these daisies in a beautiful part of the valley, 30 or 40 yards above the stream. They were growing in a little opening in a forested stretch.
When the sun shone through the trees, it felt like there were a thousand of them, swaying gently in the breeze. I stayed and was hypnotised for a while until a dog joined me and made me feel self conscious.
‘Beautiful Alien Eyeballs’
It’s an amazing time of year to witness strange, normally invisible worlds through a macro lens. Metamorphosis everywhere. New life emerging.
Trying to capture that moment between hibernation and bloom is a lifetime’s study in itself.
I noticed these tiny white buds in the photo above in their just-about-to-burst moment. I think they look like alien eyeballs, or the mouth of something ghoulish that you might find stalking the deep ocean. Repeating themes in nature in the most unlikely places.
‘Butter Fields’
Speaking of repetition, it feels appropriate to end on buttercups.
The healing salve for butter fingers or a flagging mood.
All hail nature’s tiny suns.
More from my Spring Fever series: Part 1: Tiny Worlds of Colour | Part 2: Perspective Shifts
Such beautiful photos 😍