“Deeper understanding confers that most precious thing - wonder.”
- Professor Brian Cox
In 2016 I started a hashtag - #amomentofwonder - on Instagram for us to share discoveries and explorations that spark wonder. The hashtag has been used over 13,000 times by people all over the world so I thought I'd take a look at what was posted this summer to give a snapshot of our collective wonder for life on our planet. The images I found were filled with summer fields, flowers, adventures, full moons, ferns, bare feet, books, swimming and sunshine. Each capture sought out a moment that could have gone unnoticed - running barefoot on the dry earth, a dewdrop on a clover leaf, the evening sun stretching over mountains. The photos made me start to ask questions: How old is a fern? Why does the water droplet sit on the leave and not soak into it? How were the mountains formed? How did a wild pony come to live on the moor? What is it in sunflowers that make them yellow?
So before we wish away the summer for the wooly jumpers, golden leaves and windy walks of Autumn, enjoy this gallery of stunning photos and remember that each season brings with it something fascinating to discover and learn about our universe.
"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” - Amber @notallarelost
"It is a beautiful and delightful sight to behold the body of the Moon"
- Galileo
"In the middle of the woods; when lady mist came to say hi, we ran outside and greeted her as an old friend that she is."
- Aneta Skoupá @walks_with_luna
The mist and rain is usually never far off during a British summer, especially in the Southwest of England where my husband is from and where we often spend summer holidays. I remember a particularly misty, windy walk across the wilds of Dartmoor last year...
I was drawn to this stunning photo of Yosemite National Park by Katie Warner McCauley as not only does it express wilderness, adventure and the majesty of massive landscapes, it reminds me of an incredible family holiday. Yosemite remains one of my favourite wild places. When we visited I could almost feel the spirits native american tribes gave to the trees and animals unfolding around me.
"A sky of dreams" - CJN @freespiritsontour
How wonderful it must be to discover the world from a hot air balloon!
What were your favourite moments of wonder this summer?
Join in the #amomentofwonder hashtag on Instagram this Autumn and I hope to share your photos on my next gallery in a few month's time.