Wonder is what we feel when the version of the world we hold in our minds is suddenly upended; when we encounter a reality that is bigger, smaller, more powerful, beautiful, stranger, more complex, connected, sentient or magical than we had, until that moment, conceived it to be. Wonder, when it’s real, forces a recalibration of our self in relation to the world.

Technology shrinks our world and continually tries to tell us we’re in control. Wonder reminds us that we’re not the center of the universe. It diminishes self-importance but helps us grow. The interruption of what we thought we knew and our relationship to it is uncomfortable. But every teacher knows that the moment at which a student’s assumptions fail is the moment they begin to learn.

I make eight-foot tall portraits of the songbirds who live with us every day and photograph them in unexpected places because I hope to restore people’s capacity to feel the wonder of nature. And to create a more loving and respectful relationship with her.

Rachel Carson described wonder as a way of remaining receptive to the living world. Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

Cheryl Heller, July, 2026