Lilac-breasted Roller, taken in Kruger Park, South Africa
Dear Glimsen readers, since you enjoy features of others who love beauty and since many of you have told me how much you love birds, I thought you’d enjoy this feature of a photographer friend of mine.
Years ago, a present given to Dan Martin on his sixth birthday developed a life-long passion in him. It was a Kodak Instamatic 124 camera. Who could have known at that young age that he would go through life with a camera in his hands?
“I dove in headfirst, within the confines of what I could afford,” Dan says. “In those days, when we had to purchase film and pay for developing/printing, cost limited what we could do.” Back then, he mostly took pictures of family and family events.
Later, on a family hike in the Grand Canyon in 1975, he, shot slides on Kodachrome 64, “still one of the best still-image films ever made.” When he looks at those early slides, Dan says, “My passion for capturing beautiful natural scenery is already visible.”
Arctic Tern, taken on Vigur Island, northwest Iceland
In the decades since then, Dan has photographed natural formations, animals and birds, flowers and bees or butterflies on flowers (an obsession that has earned more than an eye-roll from his family), and celestial objects including solar and lunar eclipses and comets. His photos have been taken all over the world. And in his career in both domestic and global health, he has worked in 17 countries on four continents besides the United States.
What is it that draws him to beauty in nature?
Atlantic Puffin bringing fish back to its young, taken in Borgarfirði Eystri, northeast Iceland
Dan says, “For me, one of the strongest arguments in favor of the existence of a good and loving God is the fact that we're able to enjoy great beauty.
“I'm a scientist, I've studied biology in depth, and I believe that evidence for the evolution of living things in response to constraints in their environment is undeniable.
“But there's no natural-selection 'excuse' for us to take joy in natural beauty. It doesn't make us stronger or better able to reproduce. It doesn't help us find food, or defend ourselves from predators. It just gives us joy. And I think that's because a kind Creator wants us to experience joy.
“And I express that joy partly by photographing nature and sharing those photographs with others.”
Great Blue Heron, taken at Jordan Lake tailrace in North Carolina
In his travels, Dan has taken countless photos of birds. When I asked why he admires birds so much, he responded, “Mostly I just love bright, pretty colors! But also, I'm often amazed to realize that within the tiny bodies of little birds (such as hummingbirds) are miniature versions of essentially every organ in our own bodies. Somehow, that incredible complexity that is life amazes me all the more when I see it in miniature.”
Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, taken in Dan’s backyard
That incredible complexity in birds and in nature itself has led Dan to take stunning photos of what he has seen through the years.
“If there is a through-line in my photography, it's primarily that I do not see myself so much as creating art, but rather capturing images of God's art in a pleasing way,” Dan says. “I don't know that it's accurate to say that photography is an act of worship for me ... nothing that immediate or transcendent is happening. Nevertheless, I do see God, not me, as the artist in my images.”
Pileated Woodpecker, taken in Dan’s back yard
Do you find yourself taking joy in natural beauty ? If so, why do you think that is?
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