Nature Style
I am not a nature photographer, but when nature comes to live in and around my own home, I take notice. I do not own a macro lens and that style of photography isn’t really my thing, so I had to do a bit of scrambling to figure out how to best photograph the katydid and the moth in the natural setting of our front porch. This kind of experimentation feels like play, and working with creative constraints often brings out the best in me (not just technically but also emotionally, allowing me to celebrate what I can do even when things are not perfect).
Katydid on Front Porch Window Screen, September 2025
Sharing an excerpt from a new favorite non-fiction book, Nature Style: Cultivating wellbeing at home with plants, by Alana Langan & Jacqui Vidal (photography by Annette O’Brien).
Most people don’t need convincing to get out in nature. Without even realising it, we’re inherently drawn to the natural world. That’s biophilia.
The word ‘biophilia’ was first introduced in the 1960s by social psychologist Erich Fromm and later popularised by biologist Edward Osborne Wilson in his 1984 book, Biophilia. Wilson explored the theory that humans have an innate desire to connect with other forms of life; a deep-seated affinity with the natural world that has built up over the course of human evolution. Biophilia can be summed up as an intuitive love of life and living systems.
Biophilia encourages us to slow down and pay attention to our surroundings. Maybe you can smell wisteria on the breeze through an open window, or feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. Perhaps you can hear a chorus of birdsong outside, or notice the calming effects of a walk in the forest. In its multitude of forms, biophilia soothes us deep within.