Hummingbird
Experiences

Hummingbird Spirit

© Beth Kingsley Hawkins
Sedona, Arizona

Wanting to document this unusual nest built on an electrical cord hanging from the porch rafters, I held very still so as not to startle the mother. Waiting patiently with my camera for her to come, I found myself in a deeply quiet state, and the result was this surprising image. Although it is an image of an actual bird (and there is a technical explanation for how it was created), I never could have planned the image that I captured. The picture that appeared seemed to come from another realm.

I like to think of this image as a gift of hummingbird spirit.

A beautiful Apache woman with long black hair once told me that hummingbird in Apache means soul. I experience that Hummingbird can indeed lift one’s spirit and help one tap into that which is eternal, and the deeper dimension of soul.

The Zen of Photography teaches that the camera points both ways–meaning the image is as much a reflection of the photographer's soul/psyche as it is of the outer subject being photographed. From that point of view, it excites me to think that I may have created an image I can think of as my 'inner' hummingbird.

Beth Kingsley Hawkins