I Spy With My Little Eye . . .

Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings
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Recently, at an Art Fair, I was talking with a couple kindergarten teachers about how I view my world prior to photographing it.  I spoke of how I employ virtual tunnel-vision in my Mind’s Eye to home in on a small subject; to eliminate all the visual clutter and distractions around it; to show it in its unique singularity, unhampered by the chaos around it.  In discussing this concept, we came up with a great two-part project for their students.

In Part One, the class would learn about telescopes and what they have done to improve / advance civilization.  The students could then “build” their own “telescopes” by coloring the outsides of TP or paper towel tubes using Crayons, markers, or finger paints (OMG!).  Hey!  We even managed to work Art into Science class!
 
With Part Two comes Nature Study.  The telescopes become microscopes with the Little Nature Explorers crawling around in the grass and among the bushes looking at life through their ‘scopes.  A vociferous discussion soon erupts about all the colors, and bugs, and leaves, and pebbles, and worms, and…, and…, and…

This is what I spied with my little eye. This Harvestman is about a quarter inch big... small (?)

This is essentially what I do every time I go out on a Photo Safari.  My TP tube is a bit more sophisticated.  My voice is a bit quieter.  But I’m still a kid, on my knees, rooting around in the garden, discovering the mystery, the majesty, the esoteric, the familiar [re-seen differently], the minute, the wonderful… all seemingly for the first time.
 
It’s Grand to be a Kid again!

 
Thank You for visiting,
 
— Chris
 
P.s.      Do you think you might try this with your own kids?  You did?!  How’d it turn out?  What did they discover?  Share their stories for us all to enjoy.