In this guest article, Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini shares photo art from nature with us.

It’s hard to see this. This amount of flooding and the road closure. It is easy to become overwhelmed. After all, we see Earth in a trauma response. With a compromised immunity system. When we cross Earth’s boundaries, Earth crosses ours. Do you feel this too? The tension and worry. And yet, the frost cools us down, the ice soothes the nervous system, the air invigorates as if to apologize for over-reaction.

Earth never stops being generous. Giving beyond the easily discernible. It tells us to look harder, better. Beyond the ‘road closure’ sign. 

What can we see there? What do you see there?

If you look down, there are shapes, composition and patterns. There is art to be found.

I promised you a while ago a piece of ecological art and actually I wanted to share with you these two pieces of work of mine that are very instantaneous and very current in time and feel. They appeared on that road in Willington, Derbyshire, UK. I photographed the road surface just behind the sign and these compositions emerged, created by frozen water, tarmac road, sand, air bubbles and I assume the salt that was spread on the road. I abstracted them further with framing and post-processed them in Lightroom by framing for a composition that already naturally emerged on the road surface. 

By showing you what can be achieved, I would like to encourage you to observe natural patterns that different weather conditions create around us. Perhaps there is something that you have already photographed on your phone that intrigued you. It could be something as simple as trees swaying in the same direction in a unifying manner or a unique sculpture that the water in your garden pot has frozen into or the markings on a frozen puddle in your street.

Nature facilitates dialogue with intuition and your soul. It never asks you to admire its creations but it does them anyway. In all circumstances. Sometimes in harmony with us. Other times against our will. To grow in humbleness and appreciation, all that we need is to give it attention.

What aspect of nature would you like to be attentive to this week?

Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini, a Creative (Photographer, Writer and Educator), January 2025

Modified and extended by the author from her publication here.