" In wildness is the preservation of the world. "
Henry Thoreau nailed it when he wrote those words. To me his context is not so much wilderness itself as it is the natural process that governs the way our world must work. We humans are only now learning how intricate a system it is by discovering what happens when we disrupt it. Most of which is not good.
There is a wealth to be relished in what still surrounds us. Immersed in our frazzled myopia, though, we race past too much of it without noticing. My preoccupation as a photographer is to capture and convey* what's good -- what's wonderful, even -- about the little visual experiences of everyday living in the natural world.
This isn't about Arctic auroras or Serengeti sunsets. It's about the way a rain puddle reflects the sky. The way seaweed roils in a tide flow. The way a winter frost sculpts flowers on a windowpane. It's about the little things that can strike a spark in that inner core of being human we've carried within us from the very beginnings of our species' life on this planet.
So welcome. Take a look. I hope that for you there's a spark or two to be found here.
Mark Hopkins
* Specifically in the "Nature Closeups" and "Window Frost" galleries. The other galleries are simply here to share.
Photograph: Orb Weaver Spider preparing for the night harvest, Rincon, Puerto Rico Copyright © Mark Hopkins 2018