Monthly Archives: January 2013

How my photo changed

To this picture of the lake with trees and other wildlife surrounding it, I changed the contrast and the brightness of the picture. When changing the contrast and brightness, I made the shadows of the photo darker, and the bright areas lighter. I feel this supports my narrative because I discussed how life comes from death, and some of these light areas came from some dark shadows. The sun was not able to reach all parts of the photo, and so part of the trees and lake is bright, while the other part is dark. With the light from the sun must come shadows that come from objects. Life regenerates from parts of nature that experience death. Like this, dark shadows come from objects that the sun shines bright upon. In this picture, the color is also made more vivid. The life that the color represents shows there is always joy of new life somewhere in the wild, even if you have to look through decayed life to see it.  

Wilderness Narrative

I walked along a trail filled with roots and branches crowding the path, and dozens of trees on either side of me. The trail was so lively with tall trees, short plants, and animals running through the trees like a maze. I spotted a tree that had fallen over, and pulled up all its roots with it. The fallen tree looked old, as if it had been lying there for a couple years. The bark was covered in dust and mud, and moss covered the tree like a blanket. Other various roots and branches strangled the tree as it lied on the ground, and formed an enclosure around the tree. The tree was obviously dead, which brought a sense of sadness to me that a part of nature had died. It made me even more sad to think about the habitat that this tree once provided. Animals survived off the leaves of the tree, and other animals lived down by the roots. I thought about how plants eventually wither away in nature, and it is just the natural part of life. As I looked closer at the tree, I noticed life living in the cracks of the dead tree. Insects crawled along the dead roots, and other creatures were scurrying under the tree. New plants that were green and colorful were growing around the old brown-colored fallen tree, and used the tree’s shadow for shade. I saw how nature created new life out of something that had died. I saw life created by death. This was regeneration, and it gave me a sense of hope that something good can come from something bad. Death is a part of nature, and many times it brings with it misery. However, we must understand that life comes from death, and regeneration is an important aspect of nature that gives life a fighting chance.

My definition of being Wild

To me the word wild means not restrained by anything, and natural. Wild plants grow in the wilderness without being restrained by something such as civilization, and grow naturally without man-made fertilizer. Same with wild animals. Wild animals can roam freely in their habitat without being restrained by something such as a cage. Growing up close to a city, the term wild and wilderness made me think of places like forest reserves where there are no houses or buildings to restrain wild plants and animals. Going into the wild meant going into the woods or somewhere open and natural without any man-made objects. That’s how I came to know that being wild is being natural and unrestrained.