Macrophotography, Poetry, Life
Riding the Raindrops
A macrophotography response to the SNAPSHOTS “reflections” challenge
I will always remember the first time that I peered through the lens of a microscope into the previously-hidden world of a drop of pond water squeezed between two glass slides. I was eight-years-old that summer, in Upstate New York.
When my father was young, his aunt, my great-aunt Sally, who was a biology teacher, gave him that very microscope. As we sat, on that warm day so long ago, side-by-side, hunched over that old microscope, a whole new world yawned open in front of me.
The microscope was matte black and had a mirror for a light source. You had to angle that little mirror to face something bright, and then light would be reflected up onto what you were magnifying.
I remember seeing tiny creatures swimming around in what looked like a sea of light. It inspired me in ways I’m not sure that I fathom yet today.
William Blake’s opening words from the Auguries of Innocence pretty much sums up the feeling in me at that moment when I first peered into the world of the very small:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour
So, today, while I don’t spend a lot of time peering through microscopes, I do spend a lot of time peering through camera lenses. And the world of the very small is one of my very favorite things to photograph.
These photos were taken with a simple iPhone 11 Pro Max with a Sandmarc attachable macro lens. Although I have since purchased a “real” macro lens for my Nikons, I have to say that these images remain some of my very favorites. And, incidentally, the top photo is the first photo that anyone ever asked to purchase from me.
I had become fascinated with these tiny dewdrops on a nasturtium leaf. I took shot after shot, coming inside between sessions to investigate what I had captured. Imagine my surprise when I blew up one of the images and saw this tiny yellow bug “riding the raindrops.”
It inspired me to write this poem:
Riding the Raindrops
Like a tiny inhabitant of another planet, the yellow-spotted bug — I do not know its name — rides the raindrops on the plane of the microscopic world. Unfurled by my camera lens, an entire universe descends into reality, a world I could not see until I breathed a little more deeply and took the time to look at the tiny. But who’s to say, really, which is big and which is small. For, if you were that bug, those dewdrops would look very tall and I wonder if you would even see me at all.
Oh, and that old microscope…. It still sits on the bookshelf in my office, as a reminder of both that long ago day and also of the importance of altering your perspective as you navigate your way through life.
*You probably already saw it, but the reflection in the top photo is of the little yellow bug in the dewdrop up and to the left.
Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).
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The original poem was published in Literally Literary.
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Story and photos ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.
You might also enjoy some of the other “reflections” pieces by such talented artists as Ian Hanson, Kris Cochran, pockett dessert, Erik Smith, Dennett, Penny Grubb, Christopher Lovelace @ChristopherLovelace, Inge E. Knudsen, Sandra B, K. Barrett, Charlie Cole, Gina Pacelli Jillian Amatt, B.R. Shenoy and others, who have participated in this SNAPSHOTS challenge.