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Grand Designs ... the wonders of creation.

Beauty in Decay

I enjoy capturing grand designs in nature. I photograph the light as it illuminates simple things like decaying leaves and papery petals during the winter. It turns something that most think of as dead into something quite so beautiful. You can see all the little intricacies and detail that 'ordinary' eyes usually don't see. Then in the spring and summer those plants produce new leaves and re flower again ... in defiance of death.

 

An Ever-changing Landscape

 

My studios are my garden and the pathways through the woods near home ... especially in autumnal foggy mornings. Then there are the majestic mountains like Buachaille Etive Mor in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It's fascinating how the landscape changes its colours so dramatically as the months go by. In particular there's the lush green of spring and the full blossom of orchids and other wildflowers in summer. To autumn when the mountain landscape takes on the 'Harris tweed' look and then in winter gets topped with snow.

 

In a word those pictures remind me of life. 'No matter how bleak the landscape of life may look, God can transform it into a glorious garden of color and fragrance.' ~ Julie Ackerman Link

Grand Designs in Action

Then there's the remarkable journey of strength and determination I see on our local river each year. For example the wild salmon travel back to the river they grew up in once they are about four years old. That's thousands and thousands of miles from their sub arctic feeding grounds around Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Obviously they have such a great migratory instinct.  There are more grand designs photos of the Salmon leaping here. 

 

Resilience

 

Finally I show in the video an image of a ladybird on a seed head. The temperature was reading -6.8°C when I took the initial photograph in January. The ladybird still had little beads of moisture sitting on its spotted body. In fact it moved slowly around the seed head each day despite the freezing temperatures. Ladybirds produce a type of antifreeze from the sugars in their system. As a result these chemicals prevent their body fluids from freezing. There are more grand designs photos of that ladybird in winter here.

 

...if created things are so purposely designed and beautiful, have you ever really wondered just how gloriously beautiful must He be who made them all?

When you stumble across a very rare sighting of a bee-fly sleeping while hanging upside down. Or the rare visit of a small copper butterfly into the garden. Moments that just take your breath away. I am captivated, excited and inspired by those serendipitous moments.

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Take a stroll into the deep blue yonder. A sea of blue carpets the ancient Perthshire woodland floor in Spring each year. A sweet perfume infuses the air.  You marvel at your mesmerizing tranquil surroundings. There's no one but you in those woods. You are alone with your Creator.

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This is a fun whimsical view of the UK native 7-spot ladybirds that I photograph each year. Did you know that ladybirds have moustaches? You can even count the hairs in my photos.  My work covers hours spent observing and enjoying a little wonder of creation.

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For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:6