Nature Journaling with Photographs

During January, I focused my nature journaling on incorporating photographs into the entries.

For the first week, I walked outside and looked at the rather bleak landscape. When I looked down, however, what caught my attention was track marks through the snow. They were pheasant tracks, so I took a picture of them. A leaf happened to be near the tracks, so it shows a nice natural comparison in terms of size.

I added some facts, a drawing of what a pheasant's track would look like in the mud, and noted the colors of a male ring-necked pheasant. There was even a poem that I found that captured what pheasants are like, so I wanted to include that as well.

During the second week of January, I focused on the red berries that catch my eyes since they are in such sharp contrast to the white snow and bare branches everywhere.

After learning the name of the shrub (American Highbush Cranberry), I explored its unique characteristics a bit deeper. 

I  enjoyed using colors of Prismacolor color pencils to decorate the page and tie into the red berries that the cedar waxwing birds enjoy eating in the spring.

It seems that I wasn't the only one in the home who had the idea to incorporate a photo into my nature journal. Sophia found a couple of pictures of Bailey (the horse) that tied into her nature journal entry for the week.

There's something about photographs that just seem to bring the nature journal page alive. I plan to continue to do this throughout the year when I think a photograph will enhance what I am writing about and exploring.