I am really fortunate to work at an art college because it means I am surrounded by amazing talent and creativity all the time. Recently a couple of faculty members at the college published a book geared towards children about photographing letter shapes formed entirely by nature, untouched by human hands. Authors Krystina Castella and Brian Boyl, a husband and wife team of designers, photographers and avid hikers, challenged each other to find all 26 letters of the alphabet in nature after stumbling across the letter Y that appeared to them in a bunch of odd plants at Joshua Tree National Park. Thus began their journey through nature and a new way of looking at the world around them.

The book is called, appropriately, Discovering Nature’s Alphabet, and I was lucky enough to hear a lecture by the authors explaining their work process and to get my hands on a copy of the book for my daughter. (She loves it, by the way.) Read on to find out more about this fascinating photography project, how the photographers turned it into a book deal and how hundreds of kids are now benefiting from the curriculum they’ve created for teachers and the excitement they’re generating about getting into nature and learning how to observe.

“Discovering Nature’s Alphabet” is about stopping, looking, seeing and discovering.

That statement on the book’s website sums up the whole idea behind the project. Authors Castella and Boyl are strong advocates of outdoor education — getting kids out into nature and interested in the shapes, textures and lessons they can find there. “We believe that nature has a strong influence in creativity,” they said. “An attachment to nature is healthy for the developing child and Discovering Nature’s Alphabet provides them with an activity to nurture that attachment.”

The project didn’t start out as a children’s book. In fact, it didn’t start out as a book at all. The authors simply found that first Y back in 2001 and then challenged each other to start looking for letters wherever they went, whether they were camping, hiking or visiting local parks and beaches. “Eventually these alphabet hunts piqued the interest of children,” said Castella, “who joined in the search for the perfect J in a pine forest, or the elusive Q around a tide pool.”

And how did they find the letters? One of the rules Castella and Boyl set for themselves when searching was that the letters could not be staged or retouched. They are as is. Part of the challenge for the photographers was that they had to find just the right angle so that the letters they could see with their eyes would also boldly appear in a photograph. In over five years since beginning their hunt, they have shot over 2,000 images of alphabet letters in nature.

I love the idea behind this project, I love the images in this book, and I love the challenge to every one of us to slow down and really see nature. The book’s website has some awesome resources, tips and tricks, even giving ideas about where to look for letter shapes, such as branches, coral and wind-blown sand.

I definitely recommend the book for parents who want to teach their kids about nature or for photographers who just want to be inspired by the simplicity and magnitude of nature. Inspired you will be.