(Guest blog by Anne Kelsh / Photographs by Nick Kelsh from The Sense of Wonder, 1998)

April 22nd is Earth Day.  It’s a day to celebrate, respect, promote, honor, enjoy and protect our earth’s natural environment. A day to commit to being green. A day to appreciate the power of nature—and the power of nature photography.

It’s a good day to share a message that’s near and dear to Nick’s heart—the importance of nurturing a love and appreciation of the wonders of nature in each new generation of children. That’s the message Nick helped illustrate in an updated edition of the award-winning classic book, The Sense of Wonder, by legendary “patron saint of the environmental movement” Rachel Carson. Rachel is best known for her landmark book Silent Spring which spurred revolutionary legislation to protect our land, air and water and sparked the powerful movement that we celebrate and promote each year on Earth Day, and throughout the year.

Fifteen years ago Nick picked up an old copy of The Sense of Wonder in a bookstore in Maine. He immediately fell in love with Rachel Carson’s words and vision and knew before he finished reading it that he had to produce a set of nature photographs for a new edition. He contacted Rachel Carson’s estate and was given the privilege of illustrating a new edition of this wonderful book in 1998. Rachel Carson had written her original essay prior to Silent Spring, but became overwhelmed by the pesticide controversy that Silent Spring created and, sadly, did not live long enough to complete this special project. The original edition was published posthumously in 1965 without her planned additions.

Environmental historian (and acclaimed Rachel Carson biographer) Linda Lear wrote the introduction to the 1998 Nick Kelsh illustrated edition of The Sense of Wonder, concluding with the following paragraph:

“The book you hold in your hands is the book Rachel Carson wanted most to complete in her brief life. ‘I want very much to do the Wonder book,’ she wrote shortly before her death, ‘that would be Heaven to achieve.’  She cared passionately about the subject of how to maintain a sense of wonder and believed the war was won or lost in childhood. She hoped her book would inspire adults and children alike to experience the sensory and emotional in nature, and knew that if they did, they would have less appetite for those activities that threatened the living world. This new edition of The Sense of Wonder includes precisely the kind of photographs Carson had wanted to accompany her text. ‘We plan for it to be rather lavishly illustrated with the most beautiful photographs we can find, some color and some black and white,’ she told a friend. Carson wished there might be a good fairy to give to each child ‘a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.’  Sadly Rachel Carson never met Nick Kelsh or saw his photographs, but they are companions of the spirit. This partnership of prose and picture embellishes Carson’s message as she had hoped and encourages the work of that good fairy.”

Carson wrote, “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder…he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

It’s clear to see, through the spectacular and impressive nature photography being posted by Nick’s fans on our How to Photograph Your Baby facebook page that our community is not only committed to exploring, appreciating and enjoying all the wonders of our natural world but to sharing these experiences with their children, and capturing beautiful and fascinating images—of amazing landscapes, flora and fauna, water and clouds and creatures—to marvel at and preserve and share over and over again, just as Rachel Carson had hoped.

Finally, in Nick’s tradition of offering “great quotes for photographers from great people who were not talking about photography, when you’re photographing nature (or anything else for that matter) consider this from Rachel Carson:  ”One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’”

 
Photographs by Nick Kelsh, The Sense of Wonder 1998

Nick has autographed copies of The Sense of Wonder available for sale in limited quantities.

This special book makes a meaningful gift for new parents, grandparents, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day—or a unique and meaningful end-of-year thank you gift for teachers.

Perfect for anyone who would share the love of nature with a child.

Purchase The Sense of Wonder here.

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