Disbelief
by Mia McPherson
This image was taken last year at a local county park in Florida near where I used to live.
This may look like the Osprey is peering into the trash can for a tastey morsel to eat, I don't believe that was the bird's intention as it just appeared to be resting on the trash can for a bit and lifted off soon after this image was made.
The sad truth is that while this trash can and the many other cans located on the beach probably not 25 yards apart were all nearly empty, the beach was littered with trash from the weekend merry-makers who appear to be too lazy to walk 25 yards to dispose of thier garbage.
When I look at this image I feel like the bird could be wondering why there is very little trash in the can, or because it was nearly empty, disbelief.
For me it is a vivid reminder that we should all clean up after ourselves so wildlife does not suffer.
D200, HH, standing up, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 250, 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, 62% of the original image, cropped to bring more focus on the Osprey and trash can.
As always, I sincerely appreciate your comments & critiques, thank you for looking.
Comments
6 commentsI'd have been tempted to frame this vertically and make a composition that includes the whole trash can. Since our instinct as viewers is to follow the subject's eye, I had a desire to see just what the bird might be looking at. A looser vertical comp would add even more context to the photograph itself, and may also have shown some of the trash on the beach. In this case, I think less portrait= more EPJ statement.
Makes me sad and I cant help but feel like Im ALWAYS on nature's side when it come to things like this. We must share this beautiful world and its our responsibility to help. Pictures and stories like this will help. Even if its in small ways.
Thank you for your insightful and valuable critique on this image, I completely understand the suggestion of framing this vertically and including the contents of the trash can. I do have images of this Osprey where the entire trash can can be seen, however my location was different for those shots and the background in those images consists of the sandy beach and further in the background some vegetation. I will try to remember to post one of those images soon.
As primarily an avain photographer I must admit at the time I was not thinking about the story this and the other images I took of the Osprey might tell some one from an environmental aspect, I was focused on the bird and expecting it to lift off from the can. But while I was taking the images I recall thinking it was sad that the beach was littered with trash while this majestic raptor was perched on the nearly empty trash can.
Thank you for the comment too Vincent, you are right, we must share the images and the stories.
I miss capitalizing on EPJ quite often because I'm out after other things and don't realize I was in a classic EPJ setting until I have the images up on the screen, and the ones that show "hand of man" elements so often could have been powerful EPJ images if that's what had been on my mind and I'd composed them just a bit differently.
I keep telling myself that one of these days I'll get out there and let no thoughts except EPJ thoughts enter my head. Hasn't happened yet.
I sure do have a bird brain, I am concerned I am going to get whiplash one day driving down the road as many times as my head turns to look at the feathered delights I see
I tend to avoid settings that exhibit the hand of man but I really should expand my line of vision to include it more often for EPJ shots. This image has made me think that the next time I see some thing that may be a classic EPJ shot I will make several images with different compositions.