Photography a Spiritual Practice in Advent
Guest Writer: Eve Turek
“Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19.
Every winter, hundreds of thousands of Tundra Swan migrate into our region; a few dozen spend the colder months in a little cove right outside the door of my gallery. Their close proximity delights both my heart and my lens. This year, they have not yet arrived. I could blame a milder-than-usual autumn, except that the swan, along with ducks, geese and white pelicans, are already well settled into other normal over-wintering grounds a half-hour south. A few days ago I learned a friend had spotted many more than I usually expect in farm fields on a nearby inland wildlife refuge. I decided to go see for myself.
She was right. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Tundra Swan were clustered in flooded rows that earlier in the season grew wheat or corn. Periodically, two or three would fly in from another field. I put my longest lens on my tripod and settled in to watch them feed, listening to their cooing calls, a winter sound.
I typically go to this refuge in June, scanning these same fields for Black Bear. Having lived here nearly 45 years, I know where to go when, for whom. That familiarity helps me prepare for nature’s regular rhythms, but can render me oblivious to nature’s surprises. Yesterday, not only were so many swan a surprise, but I witnessed one of my favorite natural spectacles, a huge murmuration of starlings and blackbirds. The birds danced an aerial ballet, turning repeatedly in sync before landing right in front of the swan, who took no notice. After a couple minutes on the ground, the starlings blasted off again. I receive murmurations as signs of abundance. Watching the intricacies of their flight, I perceived an additional message of individual movement within community. Had I kept to my usual schedule, going to my usual places, I would have missed the whole thing.
Advent reminds me that the God Who never changes is also the God Who surprises us, Who breaks in on our world in fresh and startling ways, if I am open to seeking and seeing them. For those of us who have celebrated for decades, Advent invites us to look for our God to show up where we might least expect to see God. This Advent, I am asking how God might do a new and fresh thing within me, and through me for my community.
Eve Turek
