On some days, one thing looks like another. It’s easy to be fooled. That’s where a pen helps.
Over the last couple years I’ve been taking pictures of objects that require scale to grasp. What I’ve used as reference is my pen, so I’m starting an ongoing LWON series of photographed objects using one for scale, calling it penspective. My hope is that fellow writers from LWON will add in with their own from time to time.
Starting this series, I give you what looks at first like a small, dead bird on the ground. Closer inspection reveals a piece of old, splintered juniper in the desert where rings in the wood have dried and split apart, forming what looks like wings, body, head, and tail.
The pen helps. I recommend carrying one around to use as a baseline, something that lets you know where an object stands. If nothing else, it helps for seeing, a reminder to look for what might be out of scale.
I’ve seen a lot of field geologists using a quarter for small scale and a rock hammer for large scale. There’s something terribly humanizing about using something other than a ruler to measure things.
Dr. D, How is a ruler not humanizing?
We are still using our scale on an immeasurable world.