Noticing Marigolds

Seeing nature Neighbors

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Noticing practice: Choose something you normally avoid or overlook, notice the details and your reactions with less judgment and more curiosity.

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For most of my life, I loathed marigolds. In my hometown, they are everywhere —lining streets, filling planters, decorating signage. To me, they felt smelly, loud, and inescapable. Then, one day I tried a new approach to noticing these flowers. Instead of approaching marigolds as subjects, I approached them as neighbors—as a living presence within the shared place of Mantorville, MN.

As I slowed down, I began to notice:

• the layered textures of smooth, fluid petals and angular, spiky leaves
• ​the repeating circular forms echoing patterns of continuity
• the way colors hold both youthful vitality and restful steadiness

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Nothing about the flowers had changed. What changed was the quality of my attention.

That shift marked the beginning of a deeper understanding: belonging to a place reveals itself through relationships, through care and attention and, often, through trying a new approach.

In slow photography combined with spiritual ecology, photography is not primarily an art form or a technical pursuit. It is a practice of relationship—a way of learning how to be present with land without extracting from it.

This kind of noticing practice asks:

• What happens when we attend to what is already here?
• How does repeated attention shape our sense of place?
• What responsibilities emerge when we truly see where we live?

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In times of personal or collective transition, it can be difficult to know how to be in right relationship with the places we inhabit. We move through landscapes quickly, often without noticing how they are shaping us or affecting our sense of belonging. In these moments nature asks us to slow down—not as a preference, but as a necessity.

Whether through photography, walking, writing, or quiet observation, the practice is the same: to show up repeatedly, attentively, and without urgency. Over time, this way of relating fosters a deeper sense of belonging.

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