As part of my overall effort to make the farm into an “outdoor studio,” I’ve spent much of the year getting to know the creatures that reside here with us. Because of travel restrictions, my wife and I have made great strides to improve the farm’s landscaping and gardens. We have a nicely diverse 7 1/2 acres of field, woods, wetland, and flower beds.
Among our many projects, we wanted to create a couple areas dedicated to birds. For this purpose, I allocated a couple pieces of white-picket fencing. These I placed in a back field overlooking a grassy wetland area where birds often naturally feed. It is also an area that I can watch from my second floor studio window.
My aesthetic goal for this series is to make photographs with visual simplicity, strong geometry, and expressiveness. Birds take on a variety of postures which we translate as body language. We do this naturally with other people as we try to gage someone’s mood. And while it is certainly an exercise in anthropomorphism to suggest that a birds body position always signifies their inner feelings, it is likely to be true at least some of the time. Even if it is never true, their posture certainly speaks to us which is all that really matters.
One of my favorite winer birds is the iconic “Snowbird” – the Dark-eyed Junco. This familiar, two-toned visitor is perfect for the type of minimalist winter imagery I want to make. The red berries add vibrance to an otherwise monochromatic scene. I composed in order that the Junco’s colors were in contrast with its background and yet still harmonious to the color palette of the image overall. Titles Snowbird, this image is available now as a Limited Edition print at my on-line gallery – HERE
For this series so far, I have been working entirely without a tripod, something that is rare for me. But the freedom to respond using a handheld lens has been very beneficial. In this case I am using an Olympus 100-400mm on an Olympus E-M1 X which I am finding to be a wonderful combination. I am still not happy wearing gloves though, so despite the cold, I am working bare-handed.
Paul Grecian - Photography 