Not everyone sees the beauty before us in nature. Kim Blain does.
Kim Blain is an artist and photographer living in Coffs Harbour on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales in Australia where things we might see every day take on a special significance. The world is full of beauty, and many times we just look past – or step past – it, without realising just what we might have missed.
On a 4WD trip in the Coffs Harbour hinterlands with her husband, enjoying the outdoors, Kim discovered a part of Nature very few people notice.
Have you ever looked – really looked – into a puddle?
Just over twelve months ago, instead of jumping over or walking around, Kim decided to look into a puddle. What she saw, she photographed and that began a passion for the forgotten Nature that exists all around us. When going through the collection of pictures later, that one photo revealed itself as a hidden piece of beauty that showed Nature to be full of surprises. It was beautiful.
Determined to repeat that picture, Kim tied again and again but found that puddles are unique and hold their own secrets, and are just waiting to reveal themselves. Puddles -and the photos taken – are stolen, fleeting moments in time. There is only one chance to capture the beauty within before it dries and becomes lost to dust. In a puddle you will see the stars, you will see creation. Like looking at clouds, looking at Kim’s photographs will have you finding things hidden from plain sight that will amaze you.
Now Kim actively searches for puddles, still trying to recreate that first photo. It’s become her passion photographing them in all states; from full and rich to the later stages of drying and returning to the earth. Each photo is a picture of life and death, beauty and loss caught in that moment.
Nature is indeed generous and a wondrous thing. To Kim, and hopefully you, Nature will never disappoint.
