One way to look at Teasel, or any plant covered with spines, is as something to avoid. The flower heads in early summer can be beautiful, especially while they are being visited by various insects. However, there's no avoiding the fact that to get good pictures of Teasel one might have to brave the spines. I find beauty there which I might never have found if I hadn't looked at lots of photos of Edward Weston. His photos of, say, a nude women curled up in the fetal position on sand and of a bell pepper on a table, which, aesthetically look more alike than different. I'm also finding more and more beauty in unconventional places as a result of an ongoing dialogue with talented young photographer Spencer Dykstra. Google Spencer Dykstra Photography for a sampler.
This photo of a dead crawdad, believe it or not, was inspired by my memory of Georgia O'Keefe's cow skulls. Her paintings of extreme close-up views of flowers and her comments about her intentions with such paintings have always interested me, but her combinations of death and beauty in a desert setting are a challenge to one's aesthetic sense. To me, a crawdad, like most any crustacean or insect, is an architectural marvel. It's beautiful even in death.
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