Arboretum Corps of Discovery

Last Friday afternoon I walked around the garden and took a few photos. That may not sound like a momentous event, but it's the first time since college that this girl has gone out with an SLR in hand to capture an image. I haven't thought about an F-stop since I was last in a darkroom in the late 1960s. I've spent the better part of the last 20+ years working with newspaper staff photographers, freelancers and a husband who's supplied my column and blog with stunning images for as long as I can remember. 

I'm used to ordering photogs around in the studio, on location, arranging portraits or ongoing news coverage. My job has been to come up with a rough concept, gather props and then sit back while a pro refines it all into an award-winning image. Now, suddenly, here I am having to think about taking my own photos.

It's all because I decided to join the UW-Madison Arboretum "Corps of Discovery," an intriguing series of four, day-long workshops designed to teach participants how to "communicate nature." This project, a joint effort between the Illinois Natural History Survey and the Arboretum, is based on the Lewis and Clark model re-interpreted for the 21st century. Each session is a full day from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and includes a variety of hands-on activities designed to build one's skills in writing, sketching and drawing, and photography.

LEWIS AND CLARK JOURNALS / American Philosophical Society

The ultimate aim of the program is to create a group of local committed citizens who will aid the UW Arboretum in their work by helping staff document the Arboretum's biological and habitat diversity — using our newly discovered skills! Though the Arb is hoping we will sign on to help them, we can take the classes without making that commitment. 

The program is intense, with instruction divvied up among three instructors from the Illinois Natural History Survey. Each one is a specialist in a given area: Susan Post in nature writing, Carie Nixon in drawing and illustration, and Michael Jeffords in photography. I've rarely seen a group of instructors who are so focussed and so prepared; they schlep tons of material from Illinois — handouts, books, tools, etc. — each session. They manage to visually and creatively present ideas and projects that can be difficult to convey, like how to write descriptively or how to employ various colored pencil drawing techniques. Though we're learning technical skills, they are in the service of aesthetic documentation. And it's all lively and mostly fun.

 

A pair of my journal pages where I literally compared the yellows in five leaves from trees in my front garden. I made a list of all the ways to say "yellow" on the facing page.

I say mostly because much of what we're doing is reminiscent of what Eleanor Roosevelt said, "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." So that means taking my own pictures for a start. It also means attempting to write in a different style than I've been using for the last 30 years as a journalist. I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater; but I'm using a lot more adjectives to capture the baby than I've done in the past. 

Someone once described my newspaper writing style as "straightforward and lyrical," a compliment I've always treasured. Now Susan's got us writing poetry. I love reading poetry; but I'm not sure about writing it. Indeed I'm feeling my way with words as much as with the camera in these sessions. How I will integrate what I'm learning into my own nature journaling — or this blog — is still unclear. 

What is clear is that what we're doing in these sessions — and in all of our many homework assignments — has already expanded my expressive toolbox.

 

My "cabinet of curiousities" (two images above) is based on the 18th and 19th century model of collecting specimens. These were mostly gathered from my garden with info on what each object is and when and where it was collected on the grid in the top of the box. Probably only curious and interesting to me.

Comments

[Lisa at Greeenbow]

This sounds like the most fun. I can't imagine that you are in need of writing tutorials. I think your writing is great. It is fun to try new things though. I would be interested in reading your poetry. I really like your collection of curiousities. The way you have them in the box reminds me of an artist that puts things like this into her art pieces. What a wonderful way to stretch and bend.

[Les]

What a great concept. It will be interesting to see if there is any carry-over to your blog and if there will be any changes to the great posts we normally see.

[Erin]

What a wonderful program. Sounds very challenging, but very enriching. I can't wait to hear more about it.

And now Linda, I think I'm beginning to understand one of the reasons I relate to your blog so much, and I should have spotted it sooner: I should have guessed you had newspaper blood. I'm not sure what it is, but once you've been part of the newsroom fraternity, there's a shared experience there that carries over even to seemingly unrelated activities, including gardening.

[LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD]

Thanks all for those nice comments. It's a great program and one I'm sure you would enjoy. Really gets you thinking about how to describe what is all around you and what's the best media to use. With Mark being such a great photographer, I've often burdened him with "assignments" when he has other things he'd rather do. I will probably try to contribute some photos, but he's so good it will take me years to get to his level.

And Erin, I was a newspaper columnist for more than 20 years, as well as a graphic designer, an editorial writer, editorial page editor and features editor. So I tend to always link together what others may see as disparate subjects. Sort of a six degrees of separation philosophy.

[Erin]

Oh for cryin' out loud, Linda, I'm slapping my head right now. I KNEW I knew your name. Sometimes I'm just a little slow on the uptake, I guess. Cap Times, right? I miss that paper. I subscribed to it when I lived in Madison and we received it at the office for years until it went online.

How fortunate that I found your blog and I'm able to enjoy your work.

[LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD]

Next time you are in Madison, we'll get together and share publishing stories and tour gardens!

[nicole]

Thanks for the quote from Eleanor. This sounds like a great project! Looking forward to seeing more pictures and notes about the Arboretum.

[LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD]

One of the nice things about this program is that they keep giving us amazing quotes.

Also they showed us a piece by Aldo Leopold that was for an ag journal and he later refined the idea and used it in Sand County Almanac. Fun to see that even he could write bad stuff and later turn it into sentences that are now quoted!

[Janet]

It is always amazing to challenge oneself to a new way of looking...even if it is a bit scary. I look forward to seeing how this journey of curiosity progresses...

[Barbara H]

Oh, Linda, I am so envious but so thrilled for you! I have the strongest feeling that your previous writing experience has laid a wonderful foundation for a leap into the lyrical. Everyone is right - your writing is already wonderful but I feel like there is so much more for you to discover about it. Have fun on your journey - though it sounds like lots of work, too.

[Martha B.]

Linda,

What a great program. I wonder if there's anything like it here in the northeast.

I also love your idea of using a grid box for specimens.

[Public Administration Dissertation]

Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!

[Kelly]

I took a master Naturalist class here in SC, wish I had something like your class here. It would be a wonderful addition to my classroom.

[Lynn]

The course sounds phenomenal. I am looking into something like that for myself as a way of relaxing and meditating with nature. Thanks for the wonderful idea of a curiosities box. I think I will start one and encourage my students to start one too.

[Marnie @ Carrots are Orange]

Lovely!! I cannot wait to integrate this idea into my Montessori home. My boys will adore the process. Thank you!