The Story Behind The Image: “Blades of Grass”.

A serendipitous cup of coffee in between bouts of rain resulted in some of my favourite images of 2024 so far.

Side Note: Even though images are all around us, we rarely delve deeper into how they came to be. As such, in this series, I share the stories behind some of my images. You can read the complete (growing) series here.

It’s been a while since I shared the story behind one of my images.

To be honest, inspiration has been a bit lacking as of late.

Why?

No idea.

It happens sometimes.

It has also been raining for weeks on end here in the upper Simmental Valley, as we progress from Winter to Spring / Summer.

Quite normal for this time of year, really.

But not great weather for getting out and making images.

Or so I thought.

One morning, while having a coffee outside, I simply looked down and discovered a whole world of photographic opportunity.

Literally at my toe tips.

The rain had eased for a bit, leaving the most fascinating water droplets on the blades of grass in the garden around the building. Now, I have done macro / close up photography many times before. In fact, I wrote about another similar, but more planned, project before here.

But it has not been on my go to list of photography projects lately.

This changed in an instant as I ran back inside to grab my camera (I always keep it close at hand), inspired not to miss the opportunity to make the images I saw developing in my mind.

The scene of the crime, where I made the image/s in question.

And for the next 45 minutes I was happily engulfed in my own world, making images in a very average looking garden.

No tripod.

No fancy filters.

Handheld.

Just me, my camera and mother nature.

One of the many macro / close up images I made in the garden.

So, not as exciting as traveling a thousand and twenty three kilometers over land and sea to photograph a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Perhaps.

But I would argue it is even more exciting.

How so?

It made me realise, once more, that nature - and the world immediately around us - is just as magical.

We just need to be observant.

And drink coffee outside so we happen to see it.

Having a camera close at hand is also useful, of course.

The point is this, however:

To find fulfilment in making images / creating something doesn’t necessarily mean traveling to far flung places.

It can also be achieved by simply being more in tune with the environment around us.

"Blades of Grass" is available as a fine art print on request (for now).

Do you have any interesting stories or thoughts to share?

Love to hear them.

Simply hit reply and let me know / comment below.

Have a great week!

PS - This is an ongoing series of sharing the stories behind a selection of my images. Read the original post that kicked off the series (and with more background info) here.

PPS - As I am nearing one year of sharing here on Alpine Dispatches (I know, right?!), keep an out in the next issue or two for an announcement on the path going forward.

PPPS - I’d love to hear about what you like and dislike, and would like to read more of, so please hit reply and let me know.

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Until next time ✌🏽.

Cornelius

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