This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
Every day we will post one day. We will leave up 2 weeks of nature walks at a time. At the end of two weeks each nature walk will be transferred to the Lifetime Member’s Only Blog and will be accessible only to Lifetime Earthschooling Members. If you want to own the entire series without enrolling a an Earthschooling Lifetime Package Member you can purchase the entire series for only $35.00 (for the entire year!)
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You can start your journey any day. You do not have to follow our schedule. However, we will leave up the first week of the project all year so you can follow the steps to get started.
#Earthschooling365: Day Nineteen
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): As I reflect on my daily experiences with my nature walk I notice that I enjoy watching the progress of the trees, the growth of the animals and the changes in activities of the birds. I find myself smiling when the animals do something new, the babies get bigger or a new flower blooms. It is so easy to do with nature. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we rewarded ourselves with those same smiles? Meditate for ten minutes today on some small changes you or someone you spend time with have made since last week. Don’t look for amazing results or events. Look for tiny simple positive little changes. Smile each time you think of one.
Nature Walk Idea (Head): A wonderful part of your nature walk is seeing different surprises each day. However, an important part of your walk will also be following the same animals, trees and plants each day. Today try to find an animal doing something different than it was doing last time you saw it. Are the sitting geese now playing? Is the sleeping squirrel now chattering? Alternately, try to identify something different about a tree or bush that you saw last week. Does the tree have more leaves? Did a bud open? Did a flower bloom? If you would like to create a nature journal and record these observations in more detail check out our tutorial, How to Create a Main Lesson Book.
Photography Notes (Hands): Today’s assignment is to try to find a subject with some action. I remember when I was interviewing with a photo stock agency in New York and the interviewer commented “I love these black and white photos with movement. I would love to see the same movement in the color photos”. Sometimes we get so caught up in the colors or textures in a photo – or even the subject itself – that we forget to include some movement in our photos. Movement always makes a photo more interesting. The first time I saw these geese a few days ago I only managed to get one photo of them sitting around in the creek. I returned today to try to get some more interesting photos. I still didn’t get exactly what I was hoping for but this photo does have more movement in it which gives it a little more excitement than the first one. Be sure to include some action in the photo or art you create today. It could be as simple as a leaf blowing in the breeze or as challenging as a bird flying off of a branch. Action photos are a little harder to take but the great thing about digital photography is that the photos are free. Some good tips for action photos are:
- Take as many photos as you can
- Set the camera for shutter priority (if you know how)
- Focus ahead. Try to predict where your subject will move and focus there.
- Plan ahead. Try to predict where your subject will move and get ready
- Leave space for the subject to move into.
- Get a fast memory card. Did you know the speed of your memory card (and not your camera) could be causing you to miss some action shots?
- Focus on the eyes. As long as the eyes (face) are in focus the viewer can enjoy the photo even if the wings or legs are blurred. In some cases this blurring can even make the photo better.
- Shoot with two eyes open. Some people say this helps them track the subject more effectively.
Verse: Goosey Loosey
Copyright Kristie Burns
A silly tongue twister poem
Goosey Loosey
Quacky Wacky
Honky Conky
Snappy Lappy
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
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