“The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world are not reserved for scientists but are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea and sky and their amazing life.” — Rachel Carson
I immediately thought of this quote as I paged through Margie Patlak’s new book “Wild and Wondrous: Nature’s Artistry on the Coast of Maine.” It is a journey amidst the natural world of wonder that is here in Maine every day, presented in stunning color photographs.
Patlak is no novice when it comes to expressing her thoughts about her life amidst nature. In her previous book, “More Than Meets the Eye” — designated a 2022 Outstanding Memoir by the American Society of Journalists and Authors — Patlak took solace in nature during a time of personal loss. For her, nature is the healing balm for the soul.
An award-winning science writer, Patlak has written for publications such as the Washington Post, Discover, the Philadelphia Inquirer and many others. She has degrees in botany and environmental studies and shares time living in Philadelphia and Corea, Maine.
In “Wild and Wondrous” the full breadth of Maine’s majestic land and seascapes is captured — the sea, the clouds, the light and land as they play together and sometimes come into conflict; the flora and fauna, islands, forests, rocks and yes, my favorite, fog. How can one not capture the majesty we here in Maine experience more often than most, our fog-bound world of wrapped gray splendor?
The 10 neatly composed chapters of photographs each focus on a particular aspect of nature and conjure for the visitor an almost real-life participation. We are, in a sense, walking hand-in-hand with the photographer as she points out nuances of wonder that many of us would fail to see.
In her introductions to each chapter, Patlak gives us the background — the hows and the whys — and shares the myriad feelings she has when immersed in nature. She is a seasoned writer, choosing her words as carefully as she frames a photograph. Reading her words, one can easily feel the passion she has for all things living.
The Japanese term shinrin-yoku also came to my mind as I meandered on this photographic journey. It is a relatively new name for the ancient practice of “forest bathing,” which is an immersion of self — all of the senses — within nature. The belief in the healing powers of forests specifically is deeply rooted in Japan, where the “Way of the Gods,” or Shinto, finds divinity manifested within nature itself.
A photographer friend of mine said to me a long time ago, “As photographers we do not take a picture, we make a picture. We look within the image to show others what it is we as artists see.” This book is a palette of artistic design. The medium used is simply nature. It is a story map of a photographer’s journey in the natural world, one sometimes deliberate, yet more often spontaneous.
The wonderful, as Patlak explains, is in the big and the small, the bright and the dull, the seen and the (at first) unseen — we bathe in nature when we explore with any of our senses — and sometimes we do find the miraculous.
“Nature reveals her remarkable designs not only on the grand scale, with her stormy seascapes and forests carpeted with mosses, but on the small scale with a clam shell that captures the sunlight, and two acorns nestled together in a bed of leaves.” — Margie Patlak
For me personally and as a photographer, the journey one can take with the images in this book, if contemplated and allowed sufficient time to let them do their magic, transports one to a better place. Even with the other senses silent, the visual wonder revealed in time, circumstance and place make up for their absence quite nicely. It is shinrin-yoku in a purely visual form.
It has been suggested that when one “bathes in nature,” a minimum of two hours is the requisite time to immerse oneself into the natural world to reap the maximum benefit. Spend just a few minutes or a few hours with this book and you will find yourself better for it. Patlak has managed to paint a dazzling photographic portrait of the natural wonder that is Maine.
“Wild and Wondrous: Nature’s Artistry on the Coast of Maine”
By Margie Patlak
Down East Books, 2023, hardcover $39.95