When photographing this series for The Overview: Meditations on Nature for a World in Transition, Jacques Brun didn’t want to be tied to a specific place. Rather, he sought to capture the wonder of a variety of Earth’s ecosystems.

Whether it be peering up at Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia or sat in front of the ocean in Sicily, this project took Brun to locations where his vision of nature could be fully realized—one where the micro and the macro meet, and “volcanoes and oceans can communicate.”

Brun’s goal for this project was to evoke a sense of reverence for nature—the theme of The Overview’s first chapter. For him, illuminating the beauty of our planet can be a catalyst for change, making a route for a better world while breaking the boundary between humans and nature. He found himself on the other side of this divide several times while shooting. The intense humidity in a tropical forest had once made his body feel like it had merged with the air: “I had become a forest.” 

But even further, he wanted to demonstrate how pausing to look closely at different life forms around and outside of us can unveil how closely connected we all are. “The reverence for me was a way to put all things and beings at the same perspective, to show a universe of interconnections,” he said.

Once magnified, the smallest details had space to transform into something far larger in Brun’s eyes—morning dew on the skin of a leaf resembled little galaxies, whereas wading in an ocean wave was akin to floating in space. “The only difference between an infinitely small ecosystem and an infinitely large ecosystem is perspective,” he continued. “I don’t think there are any others.”

Brun’s photography consistently focuses on creating non-narrative storylines, a string of images to showcase one’s nonsequential journey to a lost paradise—and this project is no different. In his own journey to this self-described “Eden,” his belief about nature was continuously reaffirmed: that the desire to exist is found in all things. He’d tried to help a hummingbird desperately trying to escape the trappings of his room and noticed trails of ants that seemed to carry bridges, roads, and houses on their backs. “It acts as a forward momentum; it is an indestructible force.”

When he pulls out his camera to preserve these wonders, he said he doesn’t think too much. Rather, he has a mantra that plays in his mind: “We are all nature, we are the eyes of the universe.” After that he photographs what is unfolding  in front of him, hoping the moment—and the magic—can somehow be captured.