A Photographer's Guide To 'Slow Seeing' The Beauty In Everyday Nature

"At first glance, you might see a jumble of weeds, a thicket of twigs, a heap of dying leaves. You might be inclined to stop looking at this point."

"Janelle Lynch invites you to look closer, and slower. She'd want you to see each image as a world in itself — not an accidental grouping of plant matter, but a well-ordered composition created by nature and fixed in time and space by her 8-by-10-inch large-format camera."

"Her implicit message is that one needs only to be still, take your time and pay close attention to find the beauty that surrounds you. But, like meditation, this seemingly simple act is often more difficult than it appears."

"Lynch points to the poetry of Mary Oliver, keen observer of the natural world, and especially the poem "The Summer Day."' After spending a day in the grass, both 'idle and blessed,' the poet asks: 'Tell me, what else should I have done? / Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? / Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?'"