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The Many Faces of Flowers

Think outside of the box.

By Richard RymerPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Attack of the Flowers

The beauty of flowers is that no matter the angle you photograph them at, they are still beautiful. Yes, I know that everything has been done before when it comes to photographing flowers but it's not about everyone else, it is about you (the photographer). Flower photography can force you to strengthen your creative side and your soft side. For example, in the photo above may not be an amazing photo but in my eyes, I can imagine the three flowers morphing into some flower zombie with its arms swaying out in front of it. We all get stuck in a non-healthy cycle of work and get bombarded with stress and depression. Because of this, I recommend that you take a few minutes out of your day and photograph flowers, rather you use a camera or a phone, the goal is to spark your imagination and to help lower stress. For example, I am a full-time graduate student and in the middle of writing all of my 5,000 page papers I find that a 15 minute walk tends to help relax my mind and get me past my writer's block.

Some might say that the contrast of this flower is not high enough or that parts of the flower is out of focus. I can appreciate their comments, however, I love to photograph flowers by connecting them to emotions that I am currently feeling at that time. When I was photographing this flower, I was feeling sad and depressed. I felt like I was being surrounded by negativity. SO by allowing the depth of field slowly creep up on the flower, I can express my slow curve into a sad and dark place.

During my divorce, I felt like I was no longer worth anything, all the beauty that I once had was rotting away. That is what I felt when I set up the photo above. These dried and dying flowers show damage yet still show a touch of beauty just with the three flowers staggering each other representing my mind, heart, and soul. With the flowers dying, the chances of someone wanting them was low just like how I felt I was damaged goods.

Sometimes we as humans focus on what society claims as the "norm," so we always photograph flowers showcasing the front of the flower or a close up of its pedals. However, if we take the time to admire each other and the flowers in all of their perfections and imperfections, we will notice that the imperfections we find are as beautiful and mesmerizing with their individual uniqueness.

There are many qualities of a flower that are worth paying attention to. Paying attention and being self-aware, we will be able to notice all of our unique quirks and mannerisms that make us different from others. Every little part of the flower is a fantastic showcasing of natural art.

There is a hidden life lesson that many (including myself) could be reminded of and that is that just like flowers and their perfect imperfections, we humans are also beauty full in our own way. We as a society get so caught up in how the media thinks what beauty should look like that we forget that true beauty is being happy with ourselves. We see flowers' curves, wrinkles, and faded colors as an amazing beauty, yet when someone has stretch-marks, they feel they must hide. If someone goes bald, they think that they must hide it or go through operations to recover the look of a full head of hair. The point of this post is that when you are stressed or are feeling down on yourself, think of how flowers are beautiful no matter the state they are in, and so are you.

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About the Creator

Richard Rymer

Hello, my name is Richard, I am a veteran with three deployments I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, mild traumatic brain injury, and social anxiety. I am currently working on my master's degree in marriage and family therapy.

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