"We should all find a quiet place, a peaceful space, to bury the chaos and rest for a while. "

- Christy Ann Martine

*Rest Stop, Nov 28, 2020*
*Donald McGuire*

Bird photography is one of the more challenging genres of our craft. It requires finely tuned technique, expensive long lenses, a great deal of patience, and knowing your subject - its habits and flight. The best bird photography takes dedicated effort, unlike my experience. That being a quick grab at the end of a casual walk as late autumn darkness consumes the afternoon light. I wondered about a less technical approach to a classic photographic subject.

When viewed through that lens, this image of a white pigeon satisfying its thirst is not bird photography in the classic sense. And like many of the photos that grow on us over time, it isn't about the primary subject but rather what it represents and how it makes us feel. First, strictly about the bird. I pleasantly noticed how common this white pigeon is on my daily walks in Portugal. Its white color likens it to a dove. Not such a stretch - the pigeon and the dove are classified in the same taxonomic family.

Often the actual click of the shutter is simply the gathering of assets and not about something more profound. It is a response to some visual cue. Only later, often significantly later, with distance from the moment, do we see beyond the frame. Iconic photographer Keith Carter stated, "Just take the photo. You have the rest of your life to figure out what it's about". If we are lucky, an image transforms from what we see to what we imagine, from the literal to the symbolic.

So what is the transformation here? While images of birds often capture the majesty of flight and the beauty of color, here we have a stationary, white pigeon further abstracted from the world of color via a black-and-white photograph. A bird is in the frame, but the image isn't simply about the bird. So having established what the photo isn't, the transformation is found in what it is - a moment of silence in a calm space.

The creative joy of photography is the ability to capture a moment 'about' something rather than 'of' something. Once we find what we want to say, photography allows us to bend light and color to accentuate the message. Here, the absence of color allows the deepened blacks to stress the quiet of the coming night. The darkness allows our eye to land on the white bird immediately.

In that instant, the bird becomes not a subject but a state of being. In the minimalist setting, its solitude bespeaks quiet. It further benefits from its association with the dove family, given the dove's long-standing image as a symbol of peace. On a less positive note, noting that the photo was taken almost three years ago during the height of the pandemic, the walks at that time were often lonely, and my perspective at the moment would have reflected that.

Beyond simply being a prop, however, the bird contributes mightily to the moment's mood. I may be falling prey to a word so much longer than seems necessary - anthropomorphism. This is our tendency to attribute human qualities to non-human beings. But zooming into the bird's face as it softly drinks from the fountain, there is a look of contentment and peace as it gazes into its reflection. Even a hint of a smile if a beak is so capable.

As he took flight and at the expense of an overbearing sixteen-letter word, I prefer to think it was as I felt it.

Bird Photography, Wandering and Wondering

Window into Winter

Suggestions in Black and White