Photography logo

Camouflage

Nature’s Pattern of Disguise

By J.F.T. (Jah-Femi Telewa)Published 4 years ago 7 min read
Like

Let Green be the Theme...

I Googled until my fingers grew numb. I ransacked every visible data byte, turning internet pages upside down to shake loose any bit of spare information I could find that would give me the slightest idea of what inspired the idea behind the all famous camouflage design, worn by army personnel and fashion enthusiasts.

Desert Camouflage:

Jungle Camouflage:

Sure, I found references to it springing from the concepts of animals and nature in relation to their instincts and requirements to hide from predators (and prey in some cases). I could not find anything to indicate it was a pattern that was directly copied from that already existing on the very backs and skins of the beauties I have featured in the video above. Whether it was or not is left to wide and probably wild speculation...

It all happened on the day when I was getting a bit of head bother. I suffer from a mental Illness that sometimes renders me exhausted and weak. This illness is especially mentally draining. This particular day it was as if a war had just occurred in my head and both sides had come to a sudden truce. The combination of all that noise was followed by a swift and deafening silence that leaves that familiar ringing tone running from one ear, past the brain, to the other ear. It was a sound you could hear internally and feel. I staggered outside, praying the air would give me some clarity; and the oxygen, however polluted, should provide refreshment. My soul probably took the biggest hit in all of this... I walked past a tree right in front my house; a tree that I only gave attention to upon my first day of arriving at this property just a few weeks ago. During the moving in period I considered the fact that it was strange that the bark of the tree was fashioned similar to military wear (or perhaps I should say the other way round: that military was fashioned similar to this tree). Without much meditating I left the matter and ever since I would pass the tree, barely bothering to even glance at it.

Back to this torturous day I was having: I passed the tree, I turned right on to the road, ending up at the high road. I was not more than one minute away from my front door. I crossed over the partially busy road, feeling a bit angered and agitated about the fact that I have to suffer this curse. “Why me?“ I selfishly thought, but to be honest, because why anybody? I was midway having this internal debate when I was pleasantly interrupted by a moth on the wall. It was causally draped in the same colour and pattern of army fatigue camouflage clothes of the green variety like the tree in front of my house.

It was all very odd. I was also wearing an olive jacket and green military gloves, as you can see in the picture, the slash proof style gloves with knuckle protectors. I didn’t need the protection though, my glove choice was for fit and fashion, not practicality. I gently placed my gloved palm back against the red brick wall. It formed a beautiful contrast between the colours, both I and the beautiful winged creature placed against it, coercing it to climb the closest finger with the gentlest motion and pressure. The moth obeyed, probably mistaking my finger for a swaying tree branch. It climbed wilfully on it, fastening itself to my finger then braving to encircle my full palm...

My phone was an 8-megapixel iPhone with Dual-LED dual-tone flash, and High Dynamic Range imaging, excitedly I reached for my phone, accessed its camera and took several snaps. In all the excitement I forgot to switch on the HDR function but the pictures still came out good enough. I thought how great it would be to place it on that tree next to my house to take more pictures then later write an article on the similarity between it, the tree and army uniform, their relation to my beliefs of creation and the involvement of a supernatural being creating these beauties intentionally as they are in comparison to the ongoing debate that they evolved so by themselves the way they are as a necessity for their survival.

After a few snaps I decided go for a walk with my moth escort still glued tightly to my opened glove. We played with each other; I removed my gloves and it encircled my fingers as it would a tree. I made attempts to place it on the tree to take photos but I think those were unsuccessful (time has its way of rapidly erasing the most acute details from my mind, no matter how recent they might have been). I eventually parted ways with the pretty creature and then took a few snaps of the tree.

I edited the photos using the ‘Splice’ app on my phone, merging them together to form a video. I then added music I composed to the final cut as you see it in the video above. I normally use a much inferior (and free) app but because I wanted this to look good so I subscribed to the app on my iPhone, telling myself it would be for a week.. maybe more.

What still baffles me is the string of so-called coincidences that led to this article.

The fact that I was wearing those clothes, the fact that I had that tree outside my house, the fact the moth matched the tree, and not only that I was wearing army gloves, but I wore them on that particular day... and finally that war occurring in my mind... A string of relatives runs through this story and dominated the day. I’m a believer that when something is too much of a coincidence to be one it usual isn’t... I look to the skies in curiosity, hoping one day the heavens speak and offer answers...

This has all inspired me to write this poem about my experience:

Heaven is Green

I know that the heavens have the answers,

The cure for pain, and ailing cancers,

and so a beauty was sent to me.

When my head was plagued and thoughts

were mean, on that day it seemed,

that everything had a reoccurring theme,

a coat of peace,

its colours green,

Why was this beauty sent to me?

To behold the glory of wonders

seen...

The End

Main Photo Edit Information:

Hi 👋 these are the edits I applied to the main photo:

For the main picture I used a different iphone, as it has better effects, it was the iPhone Max Xs with; 12 MP, f/2.4, 52mm (telephoto), 1/3.4", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 2x optical zoom, Quad-LED dual-tone flash, HDR (photo/panorama)...

Vertical: I used this photo editing function to give it the appearance as if the tree was falling face down towards the camera, also giving it the nabla symbol look...I can’t be specific about the exact angles here as the phone doesn’t allow you to view the value of the angles after complete editing, I’ll say a -30 degrees tilt...

Horizontal : to give it the playful twist (as in the dance) look, I applied a slight horizontal tilt on it, as I can’t recover the figures anymore, I don’t wish to speculate...

Straighten: I applied this function to give the appearance it was falling on its side, I applied a +28 degrees tilt to it...

Exposure:

Brilliance:

Highlights:

Brightness:

Saturation:

Tint:

Noise Reduction (yes on the still image) :

Vignette:

Photos used in video: please note I only have the screen shot versions of the following photos here, however they all are the actual (down to the DNA 🧬🙃) pictures of all subjects described in this story taken by me at various time periods thus the tree in the main photo having a different skin shade to the ones below, it’s still the very same tree just at a different time & day, also interesting that it changes shades this way... thanks 🙏

Sky Photo

I used the app called ‘Colour Pop’ to edit a picture I took from an angle out the artic window of my home (1st pic above)...

I applied a darker shade of green to the dark sections of the cloud (as first picture below indicates) then I chose a lighter shade of green to highlight my favourite parts to come up with the final picture as displayed in poem and the third & last cloud picture here...

Song in video: Ironically Carbonated Fe26+C6

Thanks 🙏

✌️&💜 2 all...

editing
Like

About the Creator

J.F.T. (Jah-Femi Telewa)

J.F.T is a Gold Award-winning short story writer & Multiple Top 40 charting composer. J’s 4 times #1 hits include tracks titled My Kin & Ironically Carbonated, taken from the soundtrack of another one of J’s upcoming books Vengeful Strike.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.