Looking and Listening Upward

Summary

Denise Darby shares a personal photography and videography project inspired by Anne Bonfert's "Looking Up" prompt, capturing the beauty of looking skyward through images and sounds of nature, including birds and wind in the trees, and invites others to participate in the creative exercise.

Abstract

The website content details Denise Darby's exploration of the "Looking Up" prompt by Anne Bonfert, which encourages viewers to observe the sky and surroundings above. Darby presents a series of photographs and videos taken from a ground perspective, showcasing the ethereal quality of her son appearing to float among the clouds and the auditory splendor of birds and wind in the trees. These visual and auditory experiences are meant to evoke a sense of wonder and appreciation for the often-overlooked beauty that lies above us. Darby reflects on her own moments of awe and encourages other writers and artists to engage with the prompt, suggesting that there is more to be gained from this simple act of looking upward than initially meets the eye.

Opinions

Darby conveys a sense of quiet despair in her photography, aiming to capture a nuanced emotional state rather than an overt sense of despair.
She values the auditory aspects of nature as much as the visual, highlighting the importance of listening to the environment around us.
Darby expresses admiration for the visual beauty of trees against the sky and the way her son seems to be floating in the clouds, which she finds appealing.
The act of looking upward is presented as a source of inspiration and a way to break through creative blocks, as evidenced by her response to Bonfert's prompt.
Darby's invitation to other creatives to participate in the "Looking Up" exercise suggests a belief in the communal and interactive nature of artistic inspiration and expression.

There is more there than what meets the eye.

I took the above picture for a poem that I was working on, Writer’s Block? Writer’s Blah. I was trying to convey a sense of slight despair. Not the kind where you are ready to end it all but more a place of quiet, slow-moving despair. Blah.

I asked my son to pose with his head against a window and I went outside and laid on the ground, looking up, with camera in hand, and began shooting. The way he seems to float somewhere in the clouds above the trees appeals to me.

Even though the photo wasn’t taken for the prompt by Anne Bonfert, in her piece: Looking Up, I thought about it while looking at this photo and decided to do a piece in response.

Scrolling through my pictures, I came upon a few “looking up” videos. I didn’t realize how much time I actually spend in awe of upward things. These captured bits of time not only highlight the stunning visual beauty of trees but also the amazing auditory beauty of nature.

I hope you enjoy. First birds:

Next wind. Arriving at a school one windy day in my convertible I was struck by the volume of the wind in the trees.

Ond more with birds. I wish I could identify the species or perhaps more than one species of bird by listening to this.

This was certainly a fun prompt. I invite others to play along:

WRITING PROMPT

Looking and Listening Upward

There is more there than what meets the eye.

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Looking Up

Lift your head towards the sky and tell me what you see