There is something about the beauty of nature that always takes my breath away. We often turn to the skies and seek inspiration from the clouds, the sun, and the colours of the horizon. We can forget that below us at ground level there is beauty to discover. During a flight recently, I started to take my smartphone and take a few photos from my window. As I captured the forests below, I couldn't help but recall how astonishing our world can appear when you are above it all.
Below me the forest stretched as far as the eye could see. A divine green covering the earth and this was majestic. From above, it looked as though every tree was one large living connection. It was almost as if the forest was going with me, reminding me that it has always been there. I realised through my lens that nature is never trying to be beautiful, it simply is.
What interested me was how the forest looked alongside the grid of buildings. They were together, human life and nature alive and well beside each other but coexisting with differences. The buildings were established, standing tall to be seen yet simply placed to work in concert with the green surrounding them.
The photos I took represent more than just the local scenery. They were real-life representations of a lesson. Nature is always alluring, and yet it is vulnerable. Being 10,000 feet in the air and having the forest of nature surround the cities reminded me that we have an even greater responsibility to protect what we have left. The photographs from above are more than just pictures. They show what we are about to lose if we do not respect the beauty that nourishes us.
In the end, I fell in love with the aerial view all over again. Not just because of the clouds that were above me, but because of how I could appreciate the land beneath me. Nature is an art form in its own right painted in every forest, every tree, and every horizon. And as I sat outside of the aeroplane window, I couldn't help but smile. Nature simply does not stop being beautiful. It waits for us to notice.