Wabi-Sabi; What The Heck Is That?

White oak leaf cluster found in my front yard (garden) (click to enlarge)
Nikon Z7; 24-70mm f/4 S lens @ 56mm; 1/60th sec. @ f/4; ISO 125

A few weeks ago, I was reading my friend Peter Frailey's blog (peterfraileyphoto.com).  Due to Covid-19 and like most of us, he is restricting his travel and interactions with others.  It is the smart thing to do (evidently people are forgetting this as the virus is making a vicious resurgence with record numbers of new daily infections being reported).  This summer Peter started a project called "Stay-at-Home Backyard Photography."  Great idea!  Peter has a beautiful home with lovely wooded grounds which also contain many flower and plant species.  He uses this wide variety of flora for his subject matter.  Most of his subjects are close-ups and macro images very skillfully focus stacked.  You might want to take a look.  If you don't have this sort of environment available, you could just as easily find subjects inside your home.

One of his recent posts used the words "wabi-sabi" in the title.  I had never heard of that term.  Peter writes that the term was used as one of the monthly assignments from his local photography club.  He had not be familiar with it before then as well.  According to Wikipedia, wabi-sabi is:

"In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature."

I'll add that, in my opinion, beauty transcends the natural world of our environment but also can be applied to human beings.  Kindness, charity, true friendship, putting others before oneself, making a difference in the lives of others, leaving a positive legacy, creating art, etc. are, to me, types of human beauty.

I have a beautifully mature white oak tree in my front yard (garden).  As I was walking through the grass other day, I spotted this cluster of oak leaves (above) lying on the ground.  My oak tree's leaves normally don't produce much color each autumn so this cluster grabbed my attention.  In the fall, my tree's leaves typically go from green to brown with almost no color so I thought this cluster was quite remarkable.  In fact, this has been a tough year for the old oak.  Since the springtime it has been infected with some sort of fungus (Oak Leaf Blister, I believe?) with almost all of the leaves having large black spots.  It is really ugly in appearance.  All summer, clusters of leaves have fallen to the ground. 

After taking notice I went back into our house to carry on with what I was doing.  For whatever reason, I thought about "wabi-sabi" and thought the leaf cluster would make a perfect example.  I grabbed my Nikon Z7 with the 24-70mm f/4 lens attached and headed back out to record it as it lay in my grass.  As I stood over and composed my image, I looked at all of the brown, dead and dying parts of these leaves.  But those parts didn't detract from the beauty of their natural shapes and the greens, yellows and reds that permeate through the leaves.  Surely, there is beauty in this little piece of nature and I appreciate what nature has provided, albeit imperfect and transitory.

I found the concept of "wabi-sabi" fascinating and immediately thought about how we all might take notice of imperfect beauty and appreciate it.  It is all around us.  Not much in this world is perfect and if we only appreciate perfection, we will be sorely disappointed.  

Let's take this concept to the next step.  How can apply wabi-sabi to our lives?  I thought about how imperfect we all are and how judgmental we all can be.  I thought about the last several years and how hate and vitriolic behavior, online and in-person, has ravaged this country.  I don't know if this kind of behavior has spread around the world, but maybe we should all think about appreciating beauty that is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete, not only in nature but in each other.  I don't think we should expect others to be perfect.  I'm hoping we can start appreciating human beauty in the form of others who may have differing cultures, religions, ethnicities, races, ideas, thoughts and opinions removing the hate and vitriol and replacing it with dialogue and respect.

You may disagree with me.  I'm approaching 69 years old and I've seen a lot of changes during my lifetime.  Most of the changes I've seen have been for the betterment of us but too many have been detrimental.  I'll blame technology and social media for a large part of these good and bad changes.  Of course, these changes are a very complex issue and I won't try to simplify it to a single cause, but I think most of you know and understand all of the good and bad technology has brought to society and culture.

I would encourage you to appreciate imperfection in nature, be more tolerant of imperfection in human nature and do your best to leave a positive legacy during your lifetime.  It matters.  Each of us matters and each of us counts.

Join me over at my website, www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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