Monday, November 22, 2010

For the birds

One hundred plus days of looking and looking and looking and I think I am starting to see a thing or two. Like, for example, the season changes. I had never noticed before how valuable summer light is. Sure, I've always appreciated summer heat but it took this rainy November for me to really appreciate the quality and angles of summer light.

And then there is autumn morning mist. How is it that I'd never noticed that heavy morning fog is an autumn phenomenon? Meteorologically, it makes sense and, yet, until I started schlepping a camera around I had never really paid attention to its fleeting nature. Nor had I noticed how mist filters light and makes a photo pop.

And now that we're staring down winter, all I see around me are ravenous animals. The squirrels are plump and just a tad less skittish when you walk by their feasting. Birds everywhere are foraging. Just today I saw a crow trying to get the last bit of tastiness out of an empty bag of potato chips. If he hadn't been poised on top of a power line in a snow storm, I might've tried to snap him. And then there was last Wednesday when I stumbled by a large flock of, uh, I dunno from birds, but they looked a bit like brownish cardinals to me. The tree was along my walk to work and it was covered with red berries. I stood transfixed for 10 or so minutes while the birds flitted about, landing, eating, retreating to a higher tree and then swooping in again. I took so many pictures. There were quite a few I was taken with but these, I think, were the best of the bunch.

3rd runner up

3rd runner-up

2nd runner-up

2nd runner-up

1st runner up

1st runner-up My husband thinks this should be the shot of the day, but I chose this instead:

113:365

113:365 I like the detail in the top bird's beak. The lower bird is caught in the act of eating.

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So tell me, what have you noticed about the world around you that you had never noticed before?

And, yes, I'll be back again tomorrow night with the rest of the week's shots and with next week's prompt.

5 comments:

  1. great pictures

    i've noticed when it's grey out i have little desire to take pictures.

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  2. I can't really tell from the pictures--but perhaps the birds are female cardinals (which are sort of dun/pinky brown colour with reddish orange beaks) or cedar waxwings. But I love the pictures and wish I had seen the birds--the snaps are great.

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  3. I'd bet they're cedar waxwings. Not only their appearance, but their behaviour is right.

    It's light that has me. We have, after all, embarked on something that is technically known as light-writing (photo-graphing), and the light of the seasons, the light of an evening, and the various changes that go with the way the light is, is what we're capaturing.

    Colours, textures, reflections. Love it all.

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  4. Dear Sue, I've not stopped in often enough. Not here nor over there. The demands of daily life have me feeling emptied out, like just getting us through our days & then through the night to the next day again has been sucking up everything I have to give, including attention. But I left this tab open last night & sat myself down this morning with a sigh and a cup of tea and looked and looked in admiration at what you have done. Such thoughtfulness. Your images, the loveliness, your individual eye. You have inspired me to more. To dig a little deeper, fight for the spark.

    So that was a long thank you (forgive me my words but I havn't a camera) now here are a few flickerings/ comments
    - yes, I think Waxwings. Beautiful shots. I love the flight/falling one. I could become a bird person. This worries me only a little.
    - the white board, a wonderful idea
    - the upsidedown red spangled shoes, one of my fave shots b/c it captures exuberance which is no easy thing
    - your invitation to look, to try to remember better/more/differently: yes. The days flow by. I panic. Feel like I am missing something. Not paying attention & so, not remembering. It comes, I think, from living in reaction to instead of mindfully of.
    So. Thank you for the mind-full today. xo

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  5. Thanks for the lovely shots of cedar waxwings--they are my favorite birds, with their showy eye markings (like showgirls)and their constant conversations as they strip trees of berries. Don't, however, stand for too long under a tree full of them--their berry diet makes them extremely regular.

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