During a recent trip to the nature park, I experienced photo shooting with a macro lens for the first time. In my usual ‘blur’ self, I signed up not knowing that the subjects were mainly insects, and my heart sank a little when I found out during the briefing before setting off.
During the walk into the nature park, my teacher pointed out a caterpillar on a tree trunk that was totally oblivious to me. It looked like a part of the tree trunk to the naked eye.
Through the macro lens, I saw with amazement the attractiveness of the caterpillar. Its shape, colors, the intrinsic details came alive. Like a little child, through the macro lens, my eyes glowed with awe at the beauty of the dragonfly and spider when these hardly noticeable insects were pointed out during my walk. As I trained my eyes to look out for the little creatures in the nature park, my little world began to open up.
What will I discover if I wear a pair of macro lenses in my life? How many people who have been oblivious to me, like the insects on the tree trunk, will stand out? They could be the aunty/janitor who cleans our toilets, a foreigner who keeps our streets clean, an older man who puts away our dirty plates in coffee shops, neighbors who share our lift and common areas, the officer behind the control station in the train station… They have been dressing so simply and dutifully present around us that they blend into the backdrop of our everyday lives.
What will I see, if I set my focus on them individually through the macro lens before I press the shutter button? What are the colors of their joy, pain, struggle, and hope? Perhaps their simplicity in life warrants them a beautiful shade of paint. What are the textures of their attitude, values, motivation, and outlook on life? Unless we look through a macro lens, we would not appreciate the richness of their lives.
Beauty is more than skin-deep. The unnoticeable small insects are part of the ecosystem. Each one is created to contribute to the food chain, ecological community, and environment in their unique way. An absence of any one of them will cause a disturbance to the environmental balance. Similarly, an absence of our fellow neighbors playing the unnoticeable roles which many take for granted will have a repercussion on our living conditions and environment, and society. This was experienced in 1979 when the dustmen in the London borough of Westminster went on strike. Rubbish was piled up in Soho and Leicester Square, causing a significant adverse effect on the lives of Londoners and tourists.
While I will not be able to access the colors and textures of life of the people I walk past every day, I can at least learn to notice and appreciate their existence and, where possible, acknowledge their presence with a smile and their contribution with a “thank you.”
One reply on “Looking Through A Macro Lens”
Kelly this is a wonderfully written piece on MACRO LENS view of the environment. They are nature, the tiniest insect to the largest elephant each has a role, each person similarly has a role. Each one has a domino effect on the next one. As you wrote the dustmen strike in London created an environmental crisis. When Covid rained down on us, garbage disposal was mandated an essential service. ”Suddenly” folks including the elite recognised the importance of garbage collectors, most of whom are foreign workers, and clamoured for their well being.