#observationalphotography

Sometimes looking closer means seeing something beautiful.

Sometimes it means looking into your aquarium and wondering what exactly your snail thinks she’s doing.

Because apparently the glass wasn’t interesting enough.

The plants weren’t interesting enough.

No.

She needed to climb.

All the way to the top.

And then hang there like this was a completely normal decision.

So, naturally, I grabbed my camera.

I’ve watched snails move around an aquarium plenty of times, but there was something different about seeing her from this angle.

Usually, we see the shell first.

The spiral.

The part that makes us immediately recognize a snail as a snail.

But from underneath, she looked completely different.

Her shell became this enormous shield above her body. Her tiny head peeked over the edge. One little antenna stretched outward while the other disappeared somewhere behind her.

And somehow, an animal we usually think of as slowly crawling along the bottom had managed to get herself all the way up there.

I think that’s what I like about taking pictures of little things.

You start noticing how strange everything actually is.

Snails climb.

Moths have fuzzy heads.

Insects have colors and patterns we can’t see until we’re inches away.

Things that seem ordinary from a distance become almost alien when you get close enough.

And this particular little alien apparently wanted the penthouse view.

I have no idea what she was looking for up there.

Maybe nothing.

Maybe she simply discovered she could climb it and decided to keep going.

Either way, I’m glad I stopped long enough to notice.

Because sometimes looking closer doesn’t reveal some profound lesson about life.

Sometimes it just reveals a snail doing something weird.

And honestly?

I think those moments deserve to be noticed, too.

— Destiny

P.S. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever caught one of your pets doing?