Life (and death)Goes On

Awesome catch, John.  The colors really pop and the hawk's stare is fierce and awesome.  The natural world is all about life and death, with death feeding life so I have no problem showing the complete spectrum animal behavior.

Love that eye and this POV that shows the right talon/leg holding the martin down..

Very graphic image that tells the story as you say.. "Life (and death)Goes On".

It's the circle of life in nature, and it's not for the faint of heart.

I think in modern society we seek to deny it by hiding it away and pretending it doesn't exist..

Great catch John, I was it was mine

Thanks both. Yes I did feel abit odd- seeing it in front of you. There was still an urge to get out  the hide but whats the point? The bird would have died anyway.

Cheers

John

Intense. Bright light at top adds to that, in my view.

Interesting behavioural image.   I find these sort of predator/prey images really tell a complete story and are far more interesting than the bird on a stick images.  You had a tough setting to work with here, but the bird choose it.

Great shot, John.  Not too graphic in a still image.  The composition is wonderful.  Is there a bit of a color cast or is it just that there's a lot of read dirt in this image?

Thanks

Denis

Maybe there is but the whole site is surrounded by bright red sandstone. It certainly may be  refecting up to the underside of the bird. I took it out in sme versions but did not look  the same somehow. Easily done though

John

Fascinating scene.  I very much enjoy this shot.

John:

Strong story in the image.  Nature is hard to view sometimes.

For me the color saturation is too high.  Don't know if the colors are accurate or not, but still to strong and detracts from the message which is so strong.

The hawks pose is exceptional, a very powerful image.

Ray

a great moment to capture, John.  the downward look at the prey is cool.  I agree that it seems like something is off in terms of the color.

A sweet photo illustrating nature in its rawest form, although not easy to look at or photograph. I like the surrounding environment and the lower angle of view.

Excellent work John!

Thanks all

Heres a toned down version. Won't be able to see it full size I,m affraid

What interests me is the fact that the  image came out of the camera with no extra saturation/ auto white balance/ nothing boosted at all in PP. So where does the extra colour come from ?

Thanks again

John

Excellent image that tells a story without words!