But…In the Name of Science!

Our garden is in full bloom and we are harvesting its fruit daily. It truly is a great privilege to have the space to manage this endeavor.

Last week I took some time away from work and started some new video/music projects that will be filling much of my artistic time. The garden is filled with butterflies of the lycaena order and I decided to try and make videos of them. They flutter about with such speed and randomness that it can be daunting to see the order in which they live. But do not be fooled, there is order here.

From a pulled back view, one can see a single butterfly encounter another mid-air. Suddenly, they will perform a ritual “circling”. They will circle each other once or twice then either move on, or continue the dance. I assume the female is sending mating messages to the male (perhaps pheromones).

If the female is agreeable, she will land and perform a rapid flutter, signaling to the male. The male will land and perform a short confirmation of gentle stroking, then join ends with the female. Once fertilized, the female will lay her eggs within the base of a fallen flower.

All of these things were an amazement to my childlike curiosity.

Then I told my wife Robin about what I had learned. She said, “Mark that’s awful! You’re a voyeur!”
Well, I disagree in the classic definition, but it does make one think about how it is that we humans will satisfy our curiosities concerning nature. We document their every move. Eating, mating, relaxing, pooping…whatever happens….just to understand them better. It is unique to the human animal to do this.

I tried to imagine what it would be like if the tables were turned and animals were recording our every move. Thus, the rough sketch of a bear photographing a woman at a dining table.

Here is a peek of my upcoming video/music efforts. It is based on the idea that we all want a peaceful moment, or maybe we just want to fall asleep. The videos will feature in-the-moment white noise and inspired music along with slow motion nature moments.

Enjoy…and peace!

Dream Sequence 1 from Mark Wade on Vimeo.