"Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence."
Alfred Billings Street (American author and poet)

I often wonder where ones aesthetic comes from?  It is definitely influenced by our cultural upbringing.  It grows and changes.  Hardly static.  All the art I have ever seen influences it.   It is rich and varied.  

Yet the most important one for me is the natural order in Mother Nature.  I find it most beautiful when there is no sign of interference from humanity.  When it’s health and strong growing unhindered by people.  I find healthy things beautiful.  Is it an inate survival attraction that perpetuates our kind.  

Where does your aesthetic come from? What are your greatest influences and inspirations? Who are your great artists?   Is it Gaia or Rothko or perhaps a mix of both? 

What can you learn by studying nature? Isn’t that why we photograph, to learn more about ourselves.  Do you learn more than just asetheics? What do you learn by taking photographs or making art?

For me, nature’s design is the greatest artist alive.    I want it to teach me aesthetics and how to see.

White Waratah at the Botanical Gardens at Mt Tomah in the Blue Mountains.  Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2018