It’s hard not to think of David Maitland’s childhood as some sort of Boys’ Own adventure. Frequently outdoors, he spent hours beachcombing, fishing for trout and carefully studying the intertidal creatures he gently scooped out of rockpools along the Scottish coast.
He was particularly fond of ‘piles of death’ – heaps of tangled seaweed, dead animals and skeletons ‘coughed up’ by the sea. Rare treasures, such as the pelvis of a bird, were carefully removed from the beach and transported back home where he displayed them in his bedroom.
Every day he would pick up an object and marvel at its beauty and complexity.
Children are naturally curious, but hanging on to a sense of curiosity and wonder as we age is challenging.
Life with all its routines and demands can dull the senses, leaving us blind to the miracles of nature all around us. Thankfully, David has retained his sense of wonder and developed a love of small and microscopic forms that he shares through incredibly detailed images and text.
With a doctorate in zoology, David really knows his stuff, and his scientific explanations are peppered with fascinating anecdotes. While lugging camera equipment through a rainforest, for example, David became an unexpected food source for yellow butterflies and sweat bees.
‘It is a magically pleasant, tickly experience to have hundreds of tiny tongues slurping away around your face and hands,’ he suggests. We can only imagine.
David’s enthusiasm is infectious, but if you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to macro or micro photography, you’ll need to look elsewhere. The purpose of The Shape of Nature is not to show us which camera setting or lighting gear to use.
At its heart, this book is an invitation to become childlike again. By telling us what hummingbirds do at night, or why snail shells are right-handed, David encourages us to wonder at the world. What a gift.
The Shape of Nature: The Intricate Patterns of Life by David Maitland is published by Abrams and is available to buy now. ISBN: 9781419779794
water reed. Photo: Abrams.
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